Dark Past, Bright Future: Dark of the Moon
by ShurtugalSkulblaka
Summary: (Sequel to DP,BF: RotF) Rachel is happily working her job at NEST when she hears of an old secret the strike force has discovered. Once again she finds herself in the middle of a fight between good and evil, except this time the two sides aren't exactly black and white. The world is threatened again and she will have to keep herself together no matter the horrors she will face.
1. Chapter 1

**Whoo, spring break XD...anyway sry I forgot to upload this previously, but I know youve all been waitin for it...im sure this fanfic will answer questions(if youve read my others) about events regarding this movie...anyway without further ado I give you...**

**Dark Past, Bright Future: Dark of the Moon**

**Chapter 1**

A girl with chocolate-brown hair and bright, green eyes followed a soldier in uniform through the gigantic, hangar-like building.

"Why do you need me to go, Lennox?" she asked.

"Because, we need your intel," the soldier replied loading something into a truck with a small logo on it.

The girl looked at the logo on the truck. It was circular with three triangles sticking out of it, it had a skull in the middle and around the inner-circle it read "If I tell you I have to kill you" and at the bottom of the circle it read "NEST." The girl smiled at the logo and allowed herself a small laugh.

"Why would you need _my_ intel, Lennox, I would think by now you'd have enough," the girl said.

Lennox sighed, "Yeah, most of the intel we do have came from _you_, Rachel, in case you've forgotten."

Rachel smiled, "Oh, that's right," she said sarcastically.

Lennox smiled, shaking his head, " I think I'm regretting letting the government put you on the team full-time now."

"I thought you just said you needed my intel? Honestly, Lennox, make up your mind," Rachel teased.

They laughed, as Lennox prepared a few more items. Rachel enjoyed Lennox's company, his wife -who Rachel had met once, via webcam- was lucky to have such a wonderful husband. She could tell how much Lennox loved his wife and daughter from the way he would passionately talk about them when Rachel asked how they were doing. Rachel wished she had that kind of relationship with a guy, but she knew _that_ would never happen because of her self-appointed(by himself) bodyguard.

"Alright, we're leaving in ten minutes, make sure you have everything," Lennox told Rachel as she followed him to a door.

Before she could reach the door, she was lifted from the ground. A giant metal hand was wrapped around her.

"Ironhide! Put me down!" Rachel ordered the Autobot trying to push herself out of his grasp.

"No," Ironhide said hardly.

"Ironhide, she has to leave in a few minutes, put her down," Lennox said from the ground.

"No," Ironhide repeated. "Last time I left you alone you almost died."

Rachel sighed in defeat, "That was four years ago, let it go. I can take care of myself now, thank you."

"Why does she need to go, Lennox?" Ironhide asked, ignoring Rachel.

"Yes, Lennox, why must she go?" Rachel asked sarcastically.

Lennox shook his head, "She has to go, _Ironhide_, because we need her for this operation. What she knows might make it a lot easier for us to get what we need. Now, put her down."

Ironhide placed Rachel back on the ground.

"Thank you. Ironhide, Optimus and Ratchet are going with us. Haven't they proven they can take care of me? I promise, I won't get hurt," Rachel said.

"Yes, but if you do-"

"I _won't_," Rachel insisted.

"_If you do_, I won't let you out of my sight again," Ironhide said.

"Oh wonderful, my bodyguard full-time," Rachel teased.

She stopped when she saw Ironhide wasn't kidding.

"I promise I won't get hurt. Don't go soft, Ironhide!" Rachel called following Lennox.

"Not gonna happen," she heard Ironhide grumble as she walked away.

It had been four years since the events in Egypt. Rachel went through college and then was granted a full-time job at NEST. She had seen a lot of change in how the world worked after the Sun had almost been blown up. Energon detectors had been placed in major cities, hoping to prevent a Decepticon ambush. In those four years, Decepticons hadn't shown themselves, but Rachel had a feeling -as did the other NEST members and the Autobots- that they were just biding their time, getting stronger. Two new Autobots had joined NEST, a red Ferrari named Mirage and a blue Mercedes Benz E550 named Que. The Autobots helped regularly, as Optimus would often say "solving human conflicts." Rachel found it amusing that humans needed protection from themselves. NEST had been on various missions around the world. As Rachel was preparing to go with NEST on yet another mission, Bumblebee, Que, Sideswipe, and Mirage were taking care of an illegal nuclear site in the Middle East. Rachel loaded up the last of the items for NEST and followed Lennox into a giant cargo plane. As the plane took flight, Rachel had time to clear up exactly what was going on. She sat next to Lennox in the cargo hold.

"Now, I have the right to know what's going on," Rachel said.

"The General Council with the Ukrainian Department of Energy met with me. He said he feared something in a Russian facility could be alien. We were given the go to investigate it," Lennox said.

"Okay, and the name of the facility?" Rachel asked.

"Chernobyl," Lennox said in an undertone.

"Chernobyl? Like the nuclear power facility that exploded Chernobyl?" Rachel asked.

Rachel had heard a small amount about Chernobyl in a history class on world disasters.

"Yes, that Chernobyl," Lennox replied.

When NEST arrived at Chernobyl it was snowing. Rachel was sitting in the passenger's seat of the red and blue semi, Lennox in the driver's seat. A gate was pulled aside in the road as the semi and Search and Rescue Hummer drove through. Rachel could see the abandoned place through the windshield, already she got a bad feeling about being here.

"Alright, let's move," Lennox said.

The semi pulled to a stop and everyone climbed out. The place was even more creepy when Rachel got out. Abandoned buildings stood vacant off to the side, the remains of an amusement park were scattered around. The haunting thought of children being caught in this mess sent chills down Rachel, and not because it was cold. Some men walked from a white car and met Lennox.

"Mr. Voshkod," Lennox said.

Rachel walked up next to Lennox.

"So, uninhabited since '86, I hear it won't be livable for another 20,000 years?" Lennox said more than asked.

"At least," the man standing near Lennox said. "Ukraine was the most fertile land, it's a tragedy. This way."

The man motioned for Lennox to follow as he walked to a building.

"Gear up!" Lennox shouted to NEST. "We have 60 minutes on the ground, watch your radiation levels."

Lennox walked to Rachel.

"You stay here," Lennox said.

For once in her life, Rachel didn't argue with someone telling her to stay put. She nodded and climbed back into the semi.

**So there you are, hopefully it was up to expectations, despite the fact its such a short chapter...trust me this took a long time to figure out where I was going to start and where to place everyone...yes so Rachel is full-time NEST now and Ironhide is still a liiiitle too protective of her. In any case, chapter 2 coming soon(again depending on how many I et done on my 3hour trip to tampa Fri and then the 3hrs coming back Sun -hopefully I wont be doing algebra the whole way -.-)**


	2. Chapter 2

**I figured out I cannot type whilst an annoying person is looking over my shoulder in a car, trying to c what im typing O_O it is BEYOND annoying! ...and also when they want to watch **_**the**_** WHOLE dotm...*sigh* So managed to get a couple chapts of dotm typed -not nearly as many as I thought I would get done on a two/three hr trip- after annoying the annoying person by playing the same parts ovr and ovr ("well I'm writing a fanfic arn't I?...if u have a problem with it stop watching it") anyway so without furthur ado...chapt 2**

**Chapter 2**

Rachel sat in the semi, waiting for NEST to come back. It had seemed like forever since they went into that building and Rachel was starting to worry about their safety. She put her head on her hands -reasoning with herself that she couldn't do anything- and started to daydream. Without even noticing her eyelids drooping, she started to sleep.

_She was lying on her back in a desert, soldiers kneeling over her. One of them was pressing on her chest, the others looking on with concern. The one pressing on her chest stopped and another took his place, shocking Rachel. He shook his head, looking disappointed._

Rachel was confused until she realized she was having a flashback from Egypt, four years ago, when she had nearly died. What confused her was that she had blacked out, she had never remembered seeing the soldiers trying to revive her.

"_Come on, Rachel," she heard one of he soldiers mutter._

_It was Lennox. The other soldier shocked her again, and nothing happened._

Rachel woke suddenly, hearing an engine start. The semi started driving, picking up speed.

"What's wrong?" Rachel asked, but her question went unanswered.

Her concern -and anxiety- for NEST started to rise as the semi braked suddenly. Rachel took it as the usual indicator to get out, fast, so she did. As soon as her feet were on the ground, the semi continued to speed alongside a building. Rachel got away from the building and as she turned back around to see where the semi went a giant _something_ crashed through the roof of the building. It fell back into the building and then crashed up through the roof again. The semi continued to drive -unaffected by the _thing_ until the _thing_ crashed across the path of the semi. The semi tried to stop, but crashed into the thing and started to transform along with the trailer.

"Optimus!" Rachel yelled.

The Autobot leader crashed into the ground. Rachel saw NEST running from the building. Optimus grabbed his Energon blade and a shield from the ring his trailer had transformed into. Rachel ran to join the soldiers.

"Stay behind me!" Optimus said.

Rachel ran with the soldiers, but stopped and ducked as a metal tentacle-like thing shot up from the ground next to her. It drilled into the ground a few feet away, creating an arch over her. She scrambled to get up, determined not to get hit by the thing.

"Optimus!" she heard Lennox yell.

Another metal driller thing shot up from the ground next to the soldiers. Rachel ran, trying to get away from it. The soldiers shot at the metal driller, without success.

"Fall back!" Lennox yelled.

Rachel and the soldiers ran as more of the metal drillers shot up, going around them.

"Its circling around us! It's taking our flank!" Lennox yelled.

Rachel jumped over some broken pieces of concrete, taking cover behind them with Lennox and the others. She watched as Optimus spun over one of the metal drillers, cutting off the end of it. Something it had been holding fell to the ground. Rachel looked as a giant robot -a Decepticon she thought- was unraveled from the middle of the biggest metal drillers.

"Optimus!" it said.

Optimus hefted his shield and held his blade up. Rachel and the rest of the soldiers started to come out of where they had been taking cover as the huge Decepticon slithered away. She stood next to Lennox as they watched the Decepticon go out of sight.

"What the hell was that thing?" Lennox asked.

"That," Optimus said, "is Shockwave."

Optimus threw his blade down, it stuck up from the ground. Lennox knelt down looking at the circular object the Decepticon had dropped.

"Why was he after this?" Lennox asked.

Optimus dropped his shield, likewise kneeling down to look at the object.

"It's impossible. This is an engine part from a long lost Autobot ship," Optimus said.

Rachel looked at the small thing, wondering how this had gotten in human hands when it had belonged to the Autobots.

From that point forward, the only thing on Rachel's mind was that thought. Optimus seemed very upset after realizing what the object was. Rachel talked with Lennox on the flight back to D.C where the current NEST headquarters. It was located at an old Heath and Human Services building, though a few changes were evident, Energon detectors were posted outside along with soldiers guarding the entrance. Rachel walked down the hangar, opposite of Lennox. She saw all of the Autobots entering and stopped.

"_All arriving Autobots, in par, training and debriefing in fifteen minutes,_" came over the intercom. "_Mirage, report to Bay 23."_

The red Ferrari pulled into the bay labeled "23."

"_Sideswipe, Bay 37 for weapons assessment,_" the intercom continued.

The silver Corvette Stingray pulled into the designated bay. Rachel's smile soon faded as she saw a woman walk into the hangar on a cell phone, flanked by an entourage. The woman reminded Rachel too much of Galloway -the arrogant Washington official who had taken over NEST command, briefly, before the Egypt events. Rachel had developed a deep loathing for arrogant Washington officials who tried to act like they knew all about the Autobots -which they usually didn't know anything. Rachel watched as the woman walked by Lennox. Lennox followed the woman as she looked at her cell phone.

"CIA is up my ass about this mystery raid in the Middle East. So, it's time to come clean, was your unit involved?" the woman said to Lennox.

Rachel's disliking for this woman only deepened after hearing her tone to Lennox. Not only had Galloway been arrogant, Rachel thought to herself.

_He'd been a complete ass-hole_, Rachel thought.

And now this woman's tone to Lennox reminded Rachel even more of Galloway. Rachel decided to keep up with Lennox and the woman, keeping her distance, but establishing that she wanted to know what was going on as well.

"I'm not sure, ma'am," Lennox stuttered.

Rachel stopped for a second as she saw two men on wires, landing down on Bumblebee. Many other soldiers stood around, watching.

"Alright, guys. This is how you do a Decepticon head kill shot," one of the soldiers said.

Bumblebee bent down, throwing the guys harmlessly off his soldiers. The soldiers -who had landed on their backs- pointed their guns at Bee. Rachel smiled for second and then kept following Lennox and the woman.

"As Director of National Intelligence, I'm a big fan of intelligent answers," the woman said.

_Director of National Intelligence? She really is more like Galloway, _Rachel thought.

Her disliking for this woman was only getting deeper and deeper as the woman kept talking.

"I can't really tell you definitively. These Autobots are like teenage kids, they like to sneak out of the house every once and a while," Lennox said.

Rachel smiled at Lennox's answer, but was unhappy about how intimidated Lennox was by this woman.

"Colonel Lennox, are you in command are are you not?" the woman's tone angered Rachel even more.

Like Rachel had thought with Galloway, she didn't like when people were openly disrespectful to Lennox. Lennox was too nice for people to treat him like this woman was right now.

_Another point to why Washington should stop sticking their noses where they don't belong,_ Rachel thought.

"Yes, ma'am, I am," Lennox said, slight irritability in his voice.

"Stop with the 'ma'am,' enough with the 'ma'am.' Do I look like a 'ma'am'?" the woman asked her assistant.

The assistant shook her head.

"No, ma'am. Yes, ma'am. Yes," Lennox stuttered.

Rachel smiled as she saw Que standing next to Ironhide.

"This gun is my perfect invention, Ironhide," Que said handing him a gun.

_Oh, great, that's what he needs, Que, another weapon of mass-destruction,_ Rachel thought sarcastically.

"Right," Ironhide said to Que.

Rachel, the woman, and Lennox walked by Que and Ironhide. Que looked down at them.

"Oh good, you're here! Me name's Que," Que said to the woman. "I do hope you have answers for him, I've never seen him so upset."

Rachel looked ahead and saw who "him" was.

"Optimus, you remember Charlotte Mearing? Our Director of National Intelligence?" Lennox said to the blue and red semi that was parked behind a desk that the Autobot ship engine part was sitting on.

"He's in a bad mood, he's not talking to anybody today," Mirage -who was standing beside Optimus- said in his Italian-accented voice.

"What is this? The silent treatment?" Mearing asked a hint of sarcasm in her voice.

"We've seen that, and this is _not_ that," Ironhide -who had walked up beside them- said.

Rachel smiled.

"Definitely not," Que agreed.

"This is _worse. _Prime! Make something of yourself!" Ironhide exclaimed, hitting the semi on the roof with a fist.

The semi started to transform.

"He's pissed," Ironhide said.

Optimus continued to transform as Rachel tried to hold back her laughter. Optimus stood for a second and then proceeded to kneel down until he was eye-level with Mearing -who was standing on the other side of the desk.

"You lied to us," Optimus said angrily.

Rachel recoiled even though she knew it wasn't she he was angry at, to get Optimus so upset was hard.

"Everything humans know of our planet we were told had all been shared," Optimus said.

Rachel was happy to see Mearing intimidated by Optimus to the point of wide eyes and silence. When Optimus was talking Mearing's eyes had darted to the engine part and then back to Optimus. Rachel could also see the other Autobots watching them intently.

"So, why was this," Optimus said pointing at the engine part, "found in human possession?"

"We were in the dark on this also, it was Director Only clearance at Sector Seven," Mearing said.

_Bull shiiiiiiiit_," Rachel thought.

"Until, now. The bag," Mearing said to her assistant.

The assistant searched around the many bags hanging on her shoulders.

"Which bag?" she whispered to Mearing.

"Hermes. Birkin. Green ostrich!" Mearing said through clenched teeth.

The assistant found a green bag and handed it to Mearing.

"Oh, my God," Mearing said taking the bag.

Now Rachel _really_ didn't like this woman, she had earned the same respect from Rachel that Galloway had: absolutely _none_. Lennox shot a look at Rachel, and she knew her hatred was showing. She smiled back to Lennox.

Mearing unclenched the bag and pulled something out.

"This is a secret few men know, and fewer still remain alive. Allow me to please introduce to you, two of NASA's founding mission directors and astronaut, Dr. Buzz Aldrin one of the first two men to step foot on the moon," Mearing said walking over to where the men she had introduced walked up to her.

She shook Dr. Aldrin's hand.

"Sir? Optimus Prime," Mearing said.

"From a fellow space traveler, it's a true honor," Dr. Aldrin said to Optimus.

"This honor is mine," Optimus said.

Rachel smiled, she didn't know how anyone could be disrespectful to Optimus.

Rachel turned her attention -not very much wanting to, but she did- to Mearing who had gotten up on a platform and put the thing -which Rachel had noticed was a VCR tape- she had pulled out of her bag into a VCR player. A video played on the computer screen behind her.

"Our entire space race of the 1960s, it appears, was in response to an event," Mearing said.

"Our astronauts investigated a crashed alien ship, no survivors on board," one of the mission directors said.

"We were sworn to secrecy by our Commander in Chief," Dr. Aldrin said.

"A total of 35 people knew the real plan at NASA," said one of the directors.

"Soviets managed to land unmanned probes, somehow they must have picked up that fuel rod," the other director said.

"We believe the Russians deduced that the rod was a fissionable fuel assembly, believed they had it mastered, and tried to harness it Chernobyl," Mearing said.

"We landed six missions in all, we took hundreds of photos and samples. We locked them away forever, and the moon program was shut down," one of the directors said.

"Well, did you search the crash vault?" Ironhide asked criticizingly.

Everyone looked at him in silence.

"The ship's name was the _Ark_, I watched it escape Cybertron myself," Optimus said braking the silence.

Rachel found his tone was somewhat saddened.

"It was carrying an Autobot technology which would have won us the war, and its captain," Optimus said walking up to the platform where Mearing was standing.

"Who? Who was its captain?" Mearing asked.

"The great Sentinel Prime, the technology's inventor. He was commander of the Autobots before me. It's imperative that I find it before the Decepticons learn of its location. Our Autobot spacecraft has the ability to get there, _and_ you must pray it's in time," Optimus said darkly, coming face-to-face with Mearing.

**Oh. Joy. Director. Mearing. I cannot say anything for her cept that shes basically a Douchett in a Suit (girl version of Galloway) and that I do not like her(sort of took my own opinion to drive Rachel's of her) Mayb my strong hate for Mearing makes me love Optimus getting "pissed" at her even more...or mayb its just Ironhide...**

**Oh, one little change here: Dino? Really, people? Sounds like the name of a dog not an alien robot. To me its Mirage and in my fanfics its Mirage, so if theres some counterpart-name-personality-change-thing going on with Dino/Mirage im not enforcing it...its basically Dino(same character, actions, personality, etc)just w his other name**

**Until next time my faithful readers! Chapt 3 coming a.s.a.h.p**


	3. Chapter 3

**Oh how I kick myself for neglecting this fanfic...when your in a car for 8hrs you should b able to get at least a few chapts done in each fanfic you're doing...I only got a few _sentences_ typed in this one...I feel so bad, so anyway here's your long-overdue chapter**

**Chapter 3**

After that the Autobots were busy -mostly Optimus and Ratchet- getting ready to leave for the moon. The plan was for Optimus and Ratchet to go to the moon, retrieve whatever it was Optimus knew was on the _Ark_, and come back.

"Yeah, but how are they going to get there, Lennox?" Rachel asked.

"The _Xanthium._ It's how the second group of Autobots got here. It's an Autobot spacecraft, the one Optimus was talking about," Lennox explained.

"That makes sense. Since when was Mearing the Director of National Intelligence?" Rachel asked.

"Before you got here," Lennox replied.

"Why haven't I heard of her before today?" Rachel asked.

"For reasons I'm sure you already know," Lennox replied.

Rachel smiled.

Rachel's mind kept zooming back to what Optimus had said.

_Another Prime?_ she thought smiling, _I guess Optimus isn't the last one._

Rachel was soon stolen by Ironhide. She tried to refuse, saying she needed to be ready to work, but it was hard to refuse Ironhide when he wanted something -especially if that something was Rachel. Rachel laid on the hood of the Topkick, her back propped up against the windshield. Since she gotten the job at NEST she had barely slept more than an hour. For this reason -even though she didn't want to- Rachel fell asleep on the Topkick.

_The sad realization that she would never see the Autobots again still haunted her. She couldn't believe how many of the Autobots -her friends- had died right in front of her because of what she had done. She knew this night would haunt her forever._

And it should, _she thought_, I was selfish and stupid.

_Now she had nowhere -and no one- to go to. She was in too much shock to feel the loss of her parents as well._

"Miss Hallows," the voice jolted Rachel from her sleep.

"What the-!" Rachel yelped as she slid off the Topkick's hood.

She hit the floor -landing on her back- with so much force, her breath was knocked from her.

"Rachel, are you okay!" Rachel heard Lennox exclaim.

"Fine," Rachel groaned in a hoarse voice. "I'm fine."

"I'm so sorry," Lennox said.

"Not your fault, I should have known not to fall asleep on the hood of a seven-foot truck," Rachel said hoarsely.

She groaned, getting up from the hard floor. When she saw who had called her name she wanted to climb back on the Topkick.

"Director Mearing," Rachel acknowledged.

"I hope you understand, Miss Hallows, that you are very lucky to have this job," Mearing said.

"I do, ma'am," Rachel replied hoping to irritate Mearing.

Mearing looked at her for a second and then continued to walk. Lennox came up beside Rachel after she had gone.

"Are you sure you're alright?" Lennox asked.

"Yeah, I'm fine, thanks. What was that about?" Rachel asked.

"I don't really know. We were walking by, talking about the mission and she stopped when she saw you," Lennox said.

"Was it that obvious?" Rachel asked shamefully.

"No, I didn't know you were asleep until she said your name and you fell off Ironhide," by now Lennox seemed slightly amused.

"Hey, not funny, it hurt," Rachel laughed back.

Lennox laughed and Rachel gave him a playful shove, laughing herself.

Rachel stood in front of one of the screens waiting for Ratchet and Optimus to make contact. Lennox stood next to her along with other soldiers from NEST. The other Autobots stood further off, waiting as well.

"Xanthium _approaching Tranquility Base,_" Optimus' words came over the radio.

There was an audible release of breaths in the room.

"_You're a go for landing,_" came a voice from the command.

A video snapped on, displaying on the main screen. Rachel and the other NEST members watched video from the rovers that had gone up with Ratchet and Optimus. The video rotated and Rachel saw Optimus' legs flash by the camera as he ran. A few seconds later Optimus was followed by Ratchet.

The rovers approached the crashed Autobot ship as Optimus and Ratchet shot blue and green laser-like beams at the side of the ship, cutting an entrance into the giant spacecraft.

"_We're entering the _Ark," Optimus said.

They walked inside the giant ship, the rovers' cameras losing them. They were in the _Ark_ only a few minutes before the rovers caught them coming out. Not with a very good vantage point, unless you called a good vantage point a shot of the Autobots' legs.

There the soldiers dispersed, Rachel as well. Confusion clouded Rachel's mind as she walked through the hangar, nothing made sense to her. What had they gone up there for? Had they gotten it? She considered asking Lennox, but then decided he had more important things to deal with at the moment. Lennox walked up to Rachel in stead.

"Rachel, considering...what happened...today, you can go rest for a while, at least for tonight. It's going to take Optimus and Ratchet at least that to get back," Lennox said to her.

Rachel smiled, she nodded.

"Thanks, I do have a headache now," she laughed.

Lennox smiled and then walked away, going back to doing things. Before Rachel could make it out of the hangar the Topkick pulled in front of her. It started to transform, as it did Rachel sighed, casting her eyes to the floor.

"Really, Ironhide? I can't even make it out the door now," Rachel said.

"After Chernobyl, I'm keeping you near me," Ironhide said. "I won't have Decepticons shooting at you."

Rachel looked at him, "Oh, like I haven't survived _that_ before."

"You almost didn't."

"But I _did._ I'm here aren't I? I'm surprised you left me alone for four years while I was in college," Rachel mocked.

Ironhide rolled his eyes at her and she returned the gesture.

"I'm driving you home," Ironhide said.

Rachel wanted to argue, she opened her mouth, but then promptly shut it, thinking she would never win. She waved her hand as if to give up and Ironhide started to transform again. Somehow, she felt that she _hadn't_ been alone all those years in college.

Another change that had happened when Rachel joined NEST was that she had moved to D.C. She lived in a small apartment not far from the NEST headquarters. Even though she could literally _walk_ to NEST, Ironhide insisted to drive her to and from the base every time she went home between jobs.

"Thanks!" Rachel called sarcastically back to the Topkick as he pulled away from the apartment.

Rachel went into the apartment, immediately flopping down on the bed. She slipped her cell phone under her pillow, just in case Lennox needed her back. Her body seemed to sigh in relief as she curled up on her bed. She was so tired, it hadn't even caught up with her again, until now. She sighed, wanting to rest a few seconds before she got in the shower, which she knew she'd have to do eventually. She laid on the bed for a few more minutes and then decided to get up and shower. She took a quick shower and then flopped back down on her bed. She quickly fell asleep, grateful for any small sleep she could get. She had barely been asleep for an hour before her phone started buzzing under her pillow. She groaned, picking it up. She read the Caller I.D and was completely shocked. She answered.

"_Rachel?"_

"Yes, _Sam_," Rachel said, irritated.

"_Rachel? A Decepticon showed up at my office and pushed one of the workers out of a window, it tried to kill me..." _Sam said quickly.

"Wait, wait, wait, slow down. A Decepticon?" Rachel asked.

"_Yeah, a bird-looking thing, it was shooting at everyone and then it tried to kill me,_" Sam said. "_I'm coming to NEST."_

"Okay- wait what? How do you know where...Bumblebee," Rachel sighed. "I'm going to have to talk with him after this."

"_Don't, it's not his fault, okay? I'm coming, you should too,"_ Sam said. "_Something isn't right."_

"Wait? You're coming now?" Rachel asked.

"_Yeah, with Carly," _Sam said.

Carly was Sam's new girlfriend, he and Mikaela -and Rachel still did not understand how- had broken up a few years ago. After everything they had gone through Rachel didn't understand how they could break up. She had never met Carly before, but she sounded extremely nice.

"Okay, Sam, I'll be there, just please, be careful," Rachel said.

"_I will,"_ Sam said.

"Bye," Rachel said.

"_Bye,"_ Sam said.

"_Who was that?"_ Rachel heard an woman's English-accented voice say while Sam was hanging up.

"_An old friend_," Sam had replied.

Rachel smiled as the line went dead. Something confused her, then she realized Sam didn't know she worked for NEST.

**Soooo, yeah I hate when I'm writing from one POV in a fanfic and there are multiple in the movie/book it makes the fanfic seem really short. Haha, I don't understand how we're supposed to believe Sam and Mikaela broke up after basically going through hell in RotF..well I guess when you compare your boss with Hitler your pretty much toast. Anyway, Mearing becomes very annoying to Rachel, making her fall off Ironhide was just the start. That scene may or may not have been based on a personal experience...o.O...anyway review if you liked, if not, well, you know the drill by now.**

**Chapt 4 coming (I guess im safe if I put it this way) whenever I have time...**


	4. Chapter 4

**Sorry guys, here you go, I won't talk much...**

**Chapter 4**

Rachel quickly put her black NEST uniform back on and got out the door. She walked back to the NEST building, nodding at the guards who knew her too well. She walked back into the hangar and quickly found Lennox.

"Rachel, I thought I told you to-" Lennox started to say.

"Sam's coming, Lennox, he's coming here, right now," Rachel said walking up to him.

"What?"

"A Decepticon showed up at his work and attacked him and his co-workers, he's coming here, now," Rachel repeated.

"A Decepticon?"

"Yeah, a Decepticon."

At that moment the yellow and black Camaro sped out of the hangar.

"Uh-oh," Rachel said, starting to walk to the visitor's entrance.

Rachel came within view of the visitor's entrance -or to most everyone else the general entrance since no visitors really came. She stopped, Lennox catching up with her.

"Raise your hand if you had flying psycho-ninja copier trying to kill you today!" Sam said as the guards frisked him.

Rachel laughed to herself, Sam hadn't changed at all. She continued to walk toward Sam, Lennox beside her.

"That's my anklet. Do I have to take that off too?" Sam said angrily as the wand beeped. "And my toe rings?"

Rachel shook her head, letting out a laugh.

"Guys, he's okay," Rachel said.

Sam looked at Rachel, confused.

"You _work_ here?" Sam asked.

"Yeah, I tried to tell you on the phone, but-"

"You work _here_ and I make copies for a job," Sam said. "That's unbelievable. I'm glad for you though."

"I did work with the Autobots for years before I met you, you know?" Rachel asked with a bit of sarcasm.

A tall blonde girl in jeans and heels stood next to Sam.

"You must be Carly, Sam's told me a lot about you," Rachel said smiling.

"Likewise," the girl said -in an English-accented voice- smiling.

Rachel, Sam, Lennox, and Carly walked down the hangar, Bumblebee driving in front of them. Sam had explained the chaos that had happened when he tried to get to NEST. The guards had ruffed him up a bit before Bumblebee had driven to the rescue.

"_All NEST officials clear the floor, we have ten minutes until attempted contact,_" came over the hangar intercom.

Sam handed Lennox some papers, which Lennox was now looking at as they walked. Rachel watched as Carly looked around as they walked by Sideswipe.

"This Wang guy recognized me. He told me to warn you. He was talking about the dark side of the moon and then they killed him," Sam said to Lennox.

"Wait a minute, he mentioned the moon?" Lennox asked looking up from the papers.

"Yeah, the dark side of the moon," Sam said.

Rachel and Lennox looked at each other. As they walked by Ironhide and Ratchet Sam patted Ironhide on the hood and waved his hand in front of Ratchet. Ratchet's emergency lights flashed on, his sirens coming on quietly.

"But why would Decepticons want to kill humans? I thought their war is with the Autobots?" Carly said.

They stopped in one of the rooms, all of them looking at the papers Sam had given Lennox. As they were talking Lennox was promptly interrupted.

"Excuse me! Colonel Lennox?" the voice made Rachel want to scowl, but she held back her anger.

"Director Mearing, this is Sam Witwicky..." Lennox said.

"I know his name, Colonel. I wanna know who gave him clearance?" Mearing said.

Rachel _really_ wanted to roll her eyes, Sam had risked his life to save the whole of the world and Mearing was being like this?

_No way, this isn't going to work_, Rachel thought.

"Who gave me clearance? How about Optimus Prime when he touched down in suburbia looking for my house?" Sam said sarcastically.

Rahel smiled, that seemed like something she wanted to say. Then she realized Sam had no clue who Mearing was.

_Nor did he meet Galloway, it would have been _such_ a pleasure_, Rachel thought.

"This is the National Intelligence Director. In case you..." Lennox said to Sam.

"Hi," Sam said realizing what he had done.

"Disrespecting a a federal officer?" Mearing said humphing.

"Maybe that'll get you somewhere. Who's she?" Mearing said quickly changing the subject to Carly.

"She my girlfriend," Sam said.

"What is this, like, a date?" Mearing asked rhetorically.

Rachel rolled her eyes while Mearing's attention was off her, _Like he's going to leave his girlfriend alone when evil alien robots are after them?_

"She knows all about the Autobots, okay? She knows Bumblebee, and she comes from a military family, I can vouch for her," Lennox said.

"Hey! I have an idea, how about we get back to the important topics, like the fact that I almost had my face cut off by a Decepticon? As a taxpayer, I'd like to lodge a complaint, as a matter of fact," Sam said sarcastically.

Rachel was wondering if Mearing felt intimidated by Carly, or jealous, something that didn't have to do with the fact Sam brought her here. Rachel could tell Lennox was getting uncomfortable.

"Okay, listen, alright?" Lennox said as if he was breaking up two kids fighting.

"One of the software engineers at Sam's office was murdered today, he was involved in NASA's lunar mapping probe," Lennox continued handing the papers to Mearing.

"Here's the thing, Colonel Lennox," Mearing said handing the papers to her assistant. "We cannot entrust national security to teenagers."

Rachel raised her eyebrows, obviously Mearing _was_ like Galloway, she had no clue that Rachel had, in fact, been apart of NEST since graduating high school.

"Unless I missed a policy paper, Are we doing that now?" Mearing asked her assistant, the assistant shook her head. "No? Good."

_Obviously you did, one that existed four years ago, _Rachel thought.

"I don't care who you are, if you breathe a word of what you've seen here, you will do time for treason. Do you understand me?" Mearing said to Sam.

Rachel looked at Lennox, frowning sadly. They exchanged looks, knowing what each other was thinking without saying it.

"I'll take my orders from the Autobots, I know them, I don't know you," Sam whispered to Mearing.

"You will," Mearing said.

Rachel followed Mearing and Lennox into a glass-fronted box overlooking a part of the hangar. Below the limp body of a Transformer was raised in a sitting position on lift-like contraption. Rachel had never seen him before, then she reasoned he must have been what Optimus and Ratchet had gone up to the moon for.

"What are you doing?" Mearing asked.

"Me? Following orders, Director, Lennox asked me to come here," Rachel said shooting a smile of thanks at Lennox.

"Sentinel Prime," Lennox explained. "These things run on Energon and he's out of it, he's in a sort of sleep mode."

"A Prime," Rachel muttered to herself in amazement.

Mearing gave her a confused look. Rachel knew Mearing was like many who though "Prime" was a part of a name, but it was more of a title.

Rachel watched as Optimus came to stand in front of Sentinel.

"Let us begin," Optimus said.

The parts covering his chest transformed back, a glowing metal creation floated from Optimus' chest into his outstretched hand. Rachel's mind suddenly flashed back four years ago when she, Sam, Mikaela, Sam's roommate Leo, and Simmons had found the creation. It was a key to activating a sun-destroying machine that was used by the ancient Primes to harvest Energon. Optimus had previously been "killed" -so to say- by Megatron and they had used it in stead to bring Optimus back to life. Rachel smiled, remembering the wonderful relief that she had when Optimus had started to move again, the feeling that all hadn't been lost and what they had done wasn't for nothing.

"That's the great Matrix of Leadership," Lennox said in amazement, calling the creation by its name. "He holds the only thing in the universe that can repower a Transformer's spark."

Optimus walked up to Sentinel, pushing the Matrix to Sentinel's chest. Sentinel's body jerked violently, as if he had been shocked. Sentinel jumped from where he was on Optimus, both of them falling to the ground. Sentinel drew a bladed weapon and held the tip to Optimus' head.

"Hold your fire!" Lennox yelled at the soldiers who were stationed around, just in case.

"Stop! Sentinel!" Optimus yelled. "It is I, Optimus Prime."

Optimus tried to push Sentinel off of him.

"It is alright, you are safe," Optimus said.

Sentinel released Optimus and stood back up.

"There is nothing to fear," Ratchet said walking up with the other Autobots.

"We are here," Optimus said. "You are home, Sentinel."

Sentinel looked around for a few minutes, until he seemed to suddenly remember something.

"The war..the war!" Sentinel exclaimed.

"The war was lost, Cybertron is now but a barren wasteland," Optimus said picking up the Matrix where it had fallen next to him.

"We have taken refuge here on planet Earth," Optimus continued, getting up. "Its human race is our ally."

"My ship. We came under fire. The pillars, where are the pillars?" Sentinel suddenly started to remember things.

Rachel walked from the glass box to where she had been with Lennox and Mearing, out to where Lennox and Mearing were standing on the platform to the side of the box. Rachel stood back from them, looking intently at Optimus and Sentinel.

"You saved five of them, including the control pillar," Optimus said to Sentinel.

"Only five? We once had hundreds!" Sentinel said.

"Excuse me, gentlemen," Mearing cut in. "May I ask, what is this technology you're looking for?"

"It is the ability to reshape the universe. Together the pillars form a space bridge..." Sentinel started saying.

Rachel's mind flashed back once again four years when Jetfire had said he had "opened a space bridge" that had teleported Sam, Mikaela, Simmons, Rachel and Leo from D.C to Egypt. Rachel could almost hear that energy crackling around her before everything had gone black around her for a split second. She wondered if that could be something the same or similar to what Sentinel was talking about.

"I designed, and I alone, can control it," Sentinel continued to Mearing. "It defies your laws of physics, to teleport matter through time and space."

"You're talking about a teleportation device, aren't you?" Mearing said a little on edge.

"Yes, for resources, for refugees," Optimus replied.

"Refugees, or troops of soldiers, weapons, maybe bombs!" Mearing exclaimed.

Rachel looked at Mearing in complete defeat, this woman would never learn, loosing her temper around Optimus wouldn't get her anywhere.

"A means of an instant strike! That's its military function, isn't it?" Mearing said, turning her words to Sentinel.

Rachel had feeling, like Optimus, Sentinel wouldn't put up with a edged tone or an outburst.

"It is our technology and it must be returned," Sentinel said, anger edging into his voice.

"Yes, if humans say so," Mearing said.

Rachel rolled her eyes, this woman was a complete _idiot_. If Sentinel really wanted the pillars back all he had to do was march over to the vault they were being stored in and take them. No _human_ was going to be able to stop him.

"You can't just bring weapons of mass-destruction into our atmosphere! You kind of have to clear customs first! A little formality called paperwork kind of separates us from the animals," Mearing raged.

Rachel didn't even know how to react to that, and she did stand corrected, this woman wasn't like Galloway: she was worse. Lennox had even looked at Mearing with wide eyes, moving slightly away from her.

"I will overlook your condescending tone if you heed the gravity of mine," Sentinel replied.

Rachel obtained a smug smile at this, for every dumb human outburst at the Autobots, there was a calm reaction from the Autobots.

"The Decepticons must never know the space bridge is here. For in their hands, it would mean the end of your world," Sentinel said coming face-to-face with Mearing.

After that everyone had dispersed, going back to their stations. Rachel followed Sam and Carly to where Mearing had motioned them.

"I'm really sorry about Mearing," Rachel said.

"It's alright, no the worst we've faced, right?" Sam said.

Rachel smiled, he was hinting back to the first time they had dealt with government officials. It was annoying for Rachel at the time, but now to look back at it seemed funny.

Rachel stopped outside Mearing's office as Sam and Carly went in. Rachel could still see inside though, she wanted to see how this was going to end. Mearing stood behind a desk, Sam and Carly sitting in chairs in front of her.

"'Total Nightmare' file," Mearing said slapping a post-it note on a white box.

Her assistant sitting not far from Rachel nodded, working on her computer. Rachel watched as a small Autobot with crazy hair-looking stuff on the top of his head, and what resembled big glasses sat on the back of an RC truck. Rachel knew the RC truck, she had only seen one like it in her life, and she wasn't about to forget. He was also an Autobot, named Wheelie, that Mikaela had found trying to steal a shard of the AllSpark from her and had locked him in a metal box. Wheelie had helped them locate Jetfire who had translated the Cybertronian symbols in Sam's head to lead them to a tomb made of the bodies of the ancient Primes that contained the Matrix.

"So the investigation is open, we've sent agents to your office, and for the time being we're going to send you home with Autobot protection," Mearing said to Sam and Carly, sitting in a chair behind the desk.

"Who-who do I need to speak to to get you guys to understand that I can help, that I can contribute?" Sam asked Mearing.

"Hey, we can all help. Want to tell you what I know?" the small Autobot that was riding on Wheelie said jumping up on Mearing's desk. "I could tell you about the solar system, all the fun planets to hang out in."

Mearing pulled a hand gun out and sat it on the desk.

"Get off my desk, please," Mearing said.

"Whoa. You pulling out guns? I can't help you out now. She angry," the Autobot said jumping off the desk.

"Oh, my God," Mearing muttered rolling her eyes.

"What do you envision for me? I go home now? I go back to work? I make copies? I mean..." Sam said trailing off.

"This is a unit for veteran intelligence officers and Special Forces, not for boys who once owned special cars," Mearing said in a tone that made Rachel want to punch her.

Rachel couldn't believe this woman. Sam had almost _died_ trying to keep the Sun from being blown to pieces. He _had_ died, for a few minutes, and this woman was acting like he had just waltzed in saying "My car transforms into an alien robot, so let me join your forces." Sam had sacrificed almost as much as Rachel had trying to help the Autobots and Mearing was acting like nothing mattered but titles.

"That's a _bit_ harsh, isn't it, ma'am?" Carly said more than asked.

"Don't call me 'ma'am' I'm not a 'ma'am'," Mearing said.

"Well, you're a woman aren't you?" Carly asked rhetorically.

Rachel smiled as Mearing stayed silent, finally someone had tackled _that_ issue. Rachel saw Sam looking around the office, something out of Rachel's view caught his eye.

"So," Sam said in a coughing voice, "are those yours?" he said pointing to the thing that had caught his eye.

"Yeah. CIA," Mearing replied curtly.

"I only ask 'cause I also have a medal, from the President," Sam said in a happier voice, laughing as he said it.

Rachel remembered that Sam had told her that he had been given a hero medal by the President after everything in Egypt.

"Yeah. Great. So, it's not that complicated, right?" Mearing said, clearly not impressed by Sam's statement. "No one gets to work with the Autobots unless I approve it. You're breaking my chain of command."

_Oh, so this is what this is about, Mearing is threatened,_ Rachel thought.

"Come on, let's go," Carly said standing with Sam. "You've done what you came for."

Mearing stood with them.

"With all due respect, young man, I appreciate what you did. But you're not a soldier, you're a messenger, you've always been a messenger," Mearing said.

Rachel was beyond belief at what Mearing had just said, that was definitely crossing the line.

"He's a hero," Carly said pulling Sam away.

**I really don't like Mearing...and about Sentinel...if only Optimus...if only...and sorry guys gonna upload more often now bout to go another trip so I can type more *yaaay* anyway this was a middle chapter...nothing too interesting..well, not to me any way...cept for sentinel telling off mearing(well, in a Prime's way) and sam and the guard scene which i was sad i didnt end up typing... oh, and still wondering if the "space bridge" jetfire opened in RotF was in any way related to sentinel's...anyway chapt 5 comin soon...**


	5. Chapter 5

**So sorry about the lack of updates my summer hasnt been very casual, I've been very busy. So I'll be uploading more chapters soon and another one today so here you go.**

**Chapter 5**

As Rachel expected, Bumblebee went home with Sam for protection. Rachel knew she'd be hearing from Sam sooner or later, he wasn't about to just sit and watch everything unfold around him. He was going to do something, Rachel didn't know what, but he was. She quickly found Ironhide after Sam and Bee had left. She patted the Topkick on the hood and he started to transform.

"Something's not right," was the first thing he said.

"Really? That's the first thing you're going to say? Not scolding me for hitting you again?" Rachel asked.

"I think you learned your lesson on that one," Ironhide said.

"Yeah, almost running me over? Next time you pull that one I'm gonna get Optimus on you," Rachel threatened.

"You wouldn't dare," Ironhide said bringing out his cannons.

"Anyway, what's not right?" Rachel said ignoring the guns.

Ironhide withdrew the cannons and looked back at Rachel.

"You're not right," he said, but he wasn't joking around.

"Hmm? _I'm_ not right?" Rachel asked a bit confused.

"Something's troubling you, I can see it," Ironhide said.

"Concerned, are we?" Rachel mocked.

"No," Ironhide said immediately. "It's just- no."

"Really?"

Ironhide quickly got annoyed, "Just tell me what's wrong."

Rachel sighed, "I guess it's Mearing, she's really pissing me off," Rachel said angrily.

"Isn't she pissing us all off? Even Optimus was pissed, and that's not a small accomplishment," Ironhide replied.

Rachel smiled, "Did you see her face when he confronted her?"

Ironhide laughed, "Everyone did. I keep telling Sideswipe to keep his mouth shut, but he's not listening."

"He's not listening to _you_, wow, that's a first, maybe I should talk to him about that," Rachel said.

"Shut up," Ironhide said.

Rachel laughed, a smile spreading over her face. If there was anyone she enjoyed talking to as much as she did talking to Ironhide, they had yet to come into her life. Talking to him was like sibling rivalry to its maximum, in a good way.

The next day Rachel was getting ready to go back to NEST when her cell rang. She knew who it was before she even looked at the caller I.D.

"Yes, Sam?" Rachel asked.

"_Rachel, you got to come to my place, right now. I need you for something,_" Sam replied.

"Emergency?"

"_Not yet."_

"Hang on, I have to tell Lennox that I'll be gone and then I'll be right over, okay?" Rachel said.

"_OK, just hurry,"_ Sam replied.

"Bye, Sam."

"_Bye_."

Rachel quickly ran downstairs, hopped in the waiting Topkick, and as he drove to NEST a thought occurred to Rachel, one that she had had many times.

"Honestly, Ironhide, do you really need to drive me across the _street_? " she asked.

No answer.

As soon as he stopped, she jumped out and ran to where she saw Lennox standing. Rachel quickly explained to Lennox that Sam needed her for something that sounded urgent. He told her to go, but to be ready to come back to NEST at a seconds-notice. Rachel agreed and went back to Ironhide telling him yo take her to Bumblebee.

"Rachel, I'm not leaving you alone," he argued.

"Ironhide, Bumblebee's going to be there, honestly, don't you trust him enough to keep me safe?" Rachel asked.

"Yes, but...fine, but if you get hurt, I swear..."

"I won't get hurt, I promise," Rachel insisted.

Ironhide transformed and Rachel climbed into the awaiting Topkick.

Sam forgot to mention an address, so Rachel just assumed he was wherever Bee was. Rachel didn't recognize the alley Ironhide pulled down, he stopped mid-way down the alley, and Rachel climbed out.

"I'll be back soon, I promise. I won't get hurt," Rachel said patting the Topkick's hood.

As Ironhide drove off Rachel turned to face the side of the alley that looked like doors. One of them opened and Sam stepped out into the alley. Rachel smiled and followed him back through the door. It was a nice apartment, with two stories and an outside balcony. There was a beautiful chandler hanging in the living room-area. Rachel didn't see Carly, but Bee sat in a corner of the living room, even though he was kind of crammed because of his height.

"What took so long?" Sam asked curiously.

Rachel sighed, "My bodyguard."

Sam seemed confused by her reply.

"Ironhide," Rachel clarified.

"Oh."

"He doesn't particularly _like_ me leaving him when bad things are going on, even with Bee here it took a little persuasion," Rachel said.

Bee nodded and made one of his agreeing noises.

"So, what do you need me for?" Rachel asked.

"You need to see something," Sam said walking over to the living room.

He grabbed up the TV remote and turned the TV on. _The O'Reilly Factor_ showed on the TV screen. Rachel walked over and sat on the couch next to Sam, curious in what he wanted her to see. Bill O'Reilly was holding up a book titled _Code Name: Hero_, but that wasn't what caught Rachel's attention.

"_Simmons_?" Rachel exclaimed.

The familiar face on the book was what Rachel thought was shocking.

"I need to know why they're killing humans, Rachel, so I called him," Sam said.

Rachel knew "they" were the Decepticons, but she was still shocked.

"He wrote a _book_!" Rachel said.

Rachel payed attention to what was being said on the interview. Simmons was talking to Bill about his book, and then the conversation switched to the Autobots.

"_Now, Agent Simmons, you would have us believe that it is in our best interest to formally take sides in this so-called alien civil war?_" Bill asked.

"_Well, the other side wanted to spank us for breakfast, so I wouldn't exactly call it a toss up. These Decepticons are lethal,_" Simmons said slightly amused.

Something pulled Simmons' attention away and he threw up his hands and someone off-camera.

"_But polls show that half the world would feel much safer with the Autobots completely gone. Get them out of here! We don't need them here!_" Bill said.

Rachel scoffed, holding in her laughter, and shook her head. Sam smiled at her, they both knew what would happen if the Autobots left.

"_I feel safer when I sleep with a hand-grenade, doesn't mean I'm always right,_" Simmons said.

"_Now, agent, here at _The Factor_ we have obtained documents that show you were fired... by the Intelligence committee..." _Bill said.

"_Downsized, Bill, budget cuts,_" Simmons cut in.

Something else was distracting Simmons off camera.

"_Your psych evaluation reports..." _Bill started.

Someone walked in front of the camera and Simmons gave a look of defeat.

"...s_ever delusional tendencies,_" Bill continued.

"_This is ambush journalism, you want the truth about the alliance? Buy my book! Buy my book, before it's too late, people! You want a piece of me, Bill? You wanna get naked? I'm ready!" _Simmons ranted.

"Wow," Sam said getting his phone out of his pocket.

"_Interview is over! You, out of my house!_" Simmons yelled.

"_You're sounding like a pinhead, agent,_" Bill said. "_And I've got a suggestion for you."_

"_It's over! You understand?_" Simmons yelled at the cameramen in his house.

"_Damage control,_" Bill said.

"_Dutch!_" Simmons called.

A man walked out of one of the back rooms in Simmons' house.

"_You have obviously upset Mr. Simmons! You have 23 seconds to leave the property, I have called the police!"_ the man yelled in a German accent.

Simmons stood up and started to leave.

"_You are peasant people throwing rocks at a giant!_" the man named Dutch yelled.

The camera cut off, with Rachel laughing, then she noticed that Sam was calling someone on his phone. Rachel was curious so she watched him as he got up and walked over to the stairs leading to the second-story.

"I called you because the Decepticons are back, I want to why, and I need your help," Sam said.

He paused for a second, waiting for the other person then spoke.

"What if I told you I knew a fifty-year-old alien secret that nobody ever told _you_," Sam taunted.

Rachel knew it was Simmons he was talking to after that. Simmons was completely obsessed with the Transformers -what he called the Autobots and Decepticons. There was a long pause before Sam talked again, Rachel knew Simmons was probably doing something crazy. Yet, Rachel still liked Simmons, he knew a lot about the Transformers and somehow got things done.

"Apollo. Moon. Aliens. Cover-up. Future-tech. Assassinations. That kind of stuff," Sam said.

Rachel laughed, Sam was doing what she would have. By obsession, Rachel meant _obsession_, and that's what Sam was doing, using Simmons' obsession to get him to come and help. There was a short pause and Sam closed the cell phone. Rachel smiled, she knew it had worked.

Later, the freight elevator came up. Rachel quickly got up from where she was sitting on the couch talking to Sam. She and Sam walked over to the elevator, the grate went up and Rachel saw Simmons with a man she had never seen before in front of the yellow and black Camaro.

"Tell Megatron, 'Let's tango,'" Simmons said.

The Camaro's halo lights came on and then he flashed his headlights into the apartment. Simmons and the man grabbed the briefcases they brought and walked into the apartment. Rachel followed Sam as he walked after Simmons. After quick introductions -in which Rachel learned the name of the man accompanying Simmons: Dutch- they started on whatever it was Sam wanted.

"What exactly are we doing?" Rachel asked looking through some papers.

"I need to know why Decepticons are killing humans, and what they're after," Sam said not taking his eyes off his own papers.

Bumblebee sat in the corner of the apartment, holding papers as well. Simmons taped pictures on to a column and stuck post-its on them.

"You've got to break this case down. What we have here is an astronaut epidemic," Simmons said walking back over to where he put the pictures.

"MIA. Dead. Died in a car accident. Killed. DOA. Car death," Simmons said pointing at the pictures.

"It's like these guys can't drive, they can fly into outer space, but they can't drive a car."

Rachel jumped, looking at the door as it slammed against the chain. Sam held the door and someone was looking in.

"Procured your information, Witwicky," the man said handing Sam some papers.

"Thank you, Bruce," Sam said going to close the door.

The man -Bruce- stopped the door with his foot.

"Now," Bruce said. "Let me see one, right now. One time."

"Quick," Sam insisted.

"Very."

Sam closed the door and undid the bolt chain on the door, letting Bruce in. He came in walking right past Rachel, Simmons and Dutch over to Bumblebee. Simmons and Rachel eyed him cautiously, but then looked back at Sam when he spoke up.

"Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter. It says NASA launched it in 2009," Sam read off the papers Bruce gave him.

Rachel watched the man as he walked closer to Bumblebee, she knew Bee could take care of himself, but she didn't like when people agitated the Autobots.

"See, forensics show Wang may have messed with the codes preventing it from mapping the far side of the moon, which is also the dark side," Sam said.

"They infiltrate us, intimidate us, coerce us to do their dirty work. And, once they're done...dush! A double-tap to the cerebellum," Simmons said.

Sam had walked over and was sitting on the window sill, Rachel watched him, ignoring Bruce.

"So humans working for the Decepticons," Sam said.

Rachel raised her eye brows.

"Well, that's new," she said. "Since when do Decepticons need _humans_?"

Everyone nodded in agreement to her question. Simmons looked back at the papers he held, frowning.

"I don't think this is about the Decepticons _looking_ for something on the moon. I think it's about something they wanted to hide."

Rachel looked at Simmons and frowned herself, this would mean trouble. She already had a feeling on what they wanted to hide, but she wasn't sure if she was right. Then her attention was taken back to Bruce.

"Come to Daddy," he said challengingly to Bumblebee holding up fists.

Rachel rolled her eyes as Bumblebee shook a finger at Bruce, warning him to stay away.

"Come on, throw down," Bruce said.

Simmons turned around in the chair he sat in, joining Rachel's glance. Bumblebee tapped his finger on the ground impatiently then his battle mask came over his face.

"I wouldn't do that..." Rachel trailed off.

"_Did you_ _eat a lot of paint chips when you were a kid?_" came over Bee's radio.

Bruce continued to hop around Bumblebee with his fists up. Then Bumblebee got agitated and his hand transformed into one of his cannons. Bruce fell to the ground, Bumblebee kneeling over him, cannon aimed at Bruce. Bruce started laughing like a little child, Rachel rolled her eyes, turning away.

"Sir! We are having a high-level alien intel confab here, that I don't think you're cleared for, errand boy," Simmons said, clearly as agitated and annoyed as Bumblebee. Bumblebee withdrew his cannon and got away from Bruce.

"Yeah, you're right," Bruce said getting up. "It's a bitching robot," he added.

"I think its time to go, Bruce, okay," Sam said leading him to the door.

"Thank you so much for this and.." Bruce started to say.

"Got to go, Bruce," Sam pressured, getting him out the door.

Rachel watched as one of the black laptops transformed. The little Autobot with the crazy looking hair-stuff -who's name Rachel had learned was Brains- stood up from where he'd been the laptop.

"I'm smoking over here," Brains said.

And indeed he was smoking.

"Downloading missing Russian cosmonauts."

Everyone looked at him curiously as he hopped over to the printer. Rachel liked his bulging blue optic eyes, that made him look like he had glasses, and is crazy hair just made her like the little Autobot all the more.

"Turns out the Soviets canceled a manned mission to the moon. The moon, in 1972! And two of their cosmonauts went into hiding in America, and I just found 'em alive," Brains said sticking one of his fingers into the printer's USB drive, making it print off papers.

As Simmons and Sam picked up the papers, Rachel noticed they were photos.

"You're a genius, Brains," Wheelie said.

Just then the door to the apartment swung open, and everyone looked up to see Carly. It wouldn't have been a big deal, except for Bumblebee backed up into the chandelier in surprise, hitting the ceiling which knocked him back to the floor.

"Whoa, whoa!" Simmons, Sam and Rachel exclaimed as Bee tried to stand up again.

Bee knocked into the ceiling again.

"Oh, that was smooth Bumblebee," Brains said.

Bumblebee scrambled to catch the chandelier as it fell, he was a second too late though because it crashed to the ground. Rachel winced at the loud noise that filled the apartment. Bee made a noise of distress and backed against the ceiling.

"_Missed it by that much,_" came through Bee's radio.

He covered his face with his hand in shame, part of his battle mask coming over his face. Rachel felt sorry for the poor Autobot, though she had no clue why he had freaked.

Rachel looked at Carly's angered confusion and Sam's plain confusion in what had just happened. Rachel knew this wouldn't be good, Carly didn't seem like the type to put up with this.

"Hi," Sam said.

Carly raised an eyebrow, "Would anyone care to tell me what the hell's going on?" she said in anger.

Rachel went to say something, but shut her mouth as Sam gave her a look not to say anything.

"Who are you?" Simmons asked in impression.

"Who are you?" Carly asked still angry.

"Who am I? Who is that? Dutch! Frisk her!" Simmons said.

"Certainly," Dutch said walking toward Carly.

"No, Dutch," Sam warned.

As Dutch got in front of Carly he stopped as she held up her hand.

"Don't touch me," Carly commanded angrily.

Dutch walked away.

"I'm not gonna touch her..." he trailed off.

"Sam?" Carly asked, waiting for an answer from him.

"Angel, I was- I was working, I'm sorry about this," Sam stammered as Carly started to walk upstairs.

"Great. We're homeless," Wheelie said.

"She lives here? Wow!" Simmons said.

"You had you're chance to frisk her," Simmons said to Dutch.

"I have a girlfriend," Dutch said holding out his hands.

"Really, what's her name?" Simmons asked quickly.

"In-dia..." Dutch said drawn out.

Simmons smiled, knowing he'd caught him in a lie. Rachel watched as Sam followed Carly upstairs. She laughed, Sam always had issues explaining himself to not sound like a total idiot. Rachel shook her head, not understanding men.

Rachel turned to Bumblebee who was just sitting there.

"Bee? Are you okay?" Rachel asked.

Bee nodded.

"It's okay, Bee, it's not your fault," Rachel said motioning to the broken glass everywhere.

Rachel noticed Simmons' confusion behind her.

"What happened to his little criminal girlfriend?" Simmons asked.

"Mikaela and Sam broke up. He and Carly have been dating for a while now," Rachel explained.

Simmons nodded as Sam and Carly came back down the stairs arguing and went out the door leading to the alleyway. Rachel looked after them as the door slammed shut. She looked back at Simmons and Dutch, then went out the door behind Sam and Carly. Sunlight hit her as she walked out into the alley where Sam and Carly were standing by a silver Mercedes Benz SLS arguing. Rachel wondered how they had afforded that car because -if she remembered correctly- it was a couple hundred thousands of dollars. She turned as she heard car engines, and saw Sideswipe and Mirage driving into the alley. Simmons and Dutch came out of the door behind Rachel, but stopped to watch Sam and Carly as well. Mirage pulled up beside Rachel, Sideswipe behind the Mercedes Benz, Rachel was glad to see the Autobots but was surprised Ironhide wasn't with them. Carly got in the Mercedes Benz, Sam shutting the door for her, she handed Sam something out of the open window and then drove off leaving Sam standing in the middle of the alley. Simmons walked up behind Sam, slapping him on the shoulder.

"A warrior's path is a solitary one," he said. "How the hell did she afford that car?"

"Her boss," Sam replied.

"Rich bastards! I used to hate them but now its..." Simmons said motioning to the air.

They all piled into the white car Simmons and Dutch had driven to Sam's.

**So there's your chapter people, Carly rly bugged me here so...anyway I'm going to upload but not talk as much cause comic-con is on :P**


	6. Chapter 6

**Well here ya go, one more chapter for tonight cause I'm being nice and all...and ive been lacking...**

**Chapter 6**

The white car drove down the street, flanked by the Camaro, Ferrari, and Corvette. Rachel sat between Simmons and Sam in the backseat while Dutch drove. They were going to find the Russian cosmonauts Brains had found.

"Going to a gig on the hunt for two Russian cosmonauts. Nothing like driving in a Maybach, huh? Germans know how to make cars, let me tell you," Simmons said.

Rachel had no clue where they were going, but she listened to Simmons talk. She wondered what was going on at NEST, they had to be investigating into this as well. Then again, with Mearing she didn't know what to expect. Last time she had been there she'd noticed Lennox seemed more agitated than usual, as did Optimus, and both were hard to agitate in the first place. Rachel closed her eyes, shaking her head as if to dispel the thought from her mind. The Autobots and the soldiers could take care of themselves, they had proven it before, she should have nothing to worry about.

Soon the car stopped, Rachel watched as Dutch pulled out a laptop and some devices.

"My Dutchman, former NSA cybersleuth extraordinaire, tracked them down here. So these cosmonauts went into hiding, the question is why?" Simmons said.

Rachel looked out the window and followed Simmons' glance to a group of people walking down the street, two men and a woman. They looked a little over-dressed for a stroll down the street, doing so they caught Rachel's suspicion. Ever since she'd worked with the Autobots her suspicion about people made her anxious. Sometimes, and in many cases, that had been what saved her life.

"Bingo. I got a match," Dutch said pointing to the two men and woman walking down the street.

"You're a German Shepherd, Dutch," Simmons said.

Simmons opened a silver case he had, inside were guns and other weapons. Rachel noticed the symbol on it had "S7" on it, she smiled. Simmons pulled out one of the handguns.

"The thing about Russians is they never like to talk," Simmons said making sure the gun was loaded.

"It's gonna take a little of the 'international language.'"

Rachel followed Simmons out of the car, Sam behind her.

They walked to where the two cosmonauts had gone through a door off the sidewalk. It lead them down a long hallway that ended with a heavy, metal door. The door had just slammed shut behind the cosmonauts, but Simmons walked confidently up to the door anyway, Dutch behind him. Simmons knocked on the door, a slit in the middle of the door slid open.

"_Do svidaniya_," Simmons said in Russian.

"That means 'good-bye'," the man who opened the slit said, closing it.

"Watch this," Simmons whispered.

Dutch handed Simmons a few hundred dollar bills, Simmons knocked on the door again and the slit opened. The man and Simmons said a few words in Russian then Simmons handed the man the money. The door opened and all of them walked through into a bar. Rachel looked around, there were a  
>few tables and a big wooden bar with tons of assortments of alcohol and drinks behind it on the wall. She saw where the cosmonauts they'd followed were sitting at one of the tables. Rachel watched as Simmons walked toward them, Dutch beside him with an English-to-Russian dictionary.<p>

"Dutch, give me something tough," Simmons said.

Dutch flipped through the dictionary.

"Uh..._baryshnikov_," Dutch fumbled uncertainly.

"We do speak English," one of the cosmonauts said.

Simmons looked at Dutch,"Dutch, you suck."

"I-it's a Cyrillic alphabet! It's like all the buttons you never push on a calculator!" Dutch defended himself.

"I don't suck," Dutch said as Simmons walked away.

Simmons sat down at the table across from the cosmonauts.

"Agent Seymour Simmons, Sector Eight, formerly Seven. We know who you are, cosmonautchiks," Simmons said.

Rachel was beginning to have second thoughts on whether this was a good idea as the cosmonauts glared at Simmons.

"So what?" said the bald one.

"You were supposed to travel to the dark side of the moon, then, it all got shut down," Simmons said in mock-pity.

He grabbed one of the shot glasses from the table and poured the Vodka sitting on the table into the glass.

"The question is: why?" Simmons said.

The woman sitting next to one of the cosmonauts said something to him in Russian, then she and the woman behind the bar started yelling back and forth. Dutch sat at the bar, trying to translate what they were saying. Suddenly, the woman at the table drew out a revolver, aiming it at Simmons. At the same time the woman behind the bar drew out a double-barreled rifle-like gun, aiming it at Simmons. The man closest to Rachel also drew out a gun, but Rachel already had swiped her own handgun from where it was hidden in her boot.

"Go ahead, shoot me," Simmons said to the woman holding the gun at him.

She said something in Russian to him.

"I'm willing to die for my country, are you?" Simmons said.

The woman again said something back in Russian.

"You are beautiful, has anyone ever told you how beautiful you are? She's a beautiful woman," Simmons rambled on.

Rachel was facing the bar, her gun aimed at the Russian who's gun was pointed at her. There was a loud crash as Dutch slammed the gun pointed at him into the bar, ripping it from the woman's hand and slamming her into the bar as well. He aimed the gun at one of the servers and they both lowered to the floor slowly.

"Dutch, back in the cage," Simmons said.

Dutch swung another gun toward the people holding them. The Russians were pressuring the guns harder at Simmons and Sam, but the one facing Rachel stayed still.

"Hold, Dutch, hold!" Simmons yelled.

"Control your boy, please, control your boy," Sam begged as a gun was pressed harder against him.

"Dutch, stop!" Simmons said and then started talking in a different language. "Stop!"

Rachel looked over to Dutch and saw that something looked different about him, then something snapped and he was himself again. Dutch dropped one of the guns he was holding, his hand trembling.

"I'm so sorry, that is the old me," he apologized to the server he'd held the gun at.

"Okay, let's everybody just calm down! Let's lower the heat, lower the guns, let's relax. World War II is over," Simmons said.

Rachel waited for the Russian to start lowering his gun before she began to lower hers. She replaced it to her boot, tightening the strap, she looked up to see Sam's shocked expression.

"Yes, Sam, I carry a gun," Rachel said smiling.

"Since when?" Sam asked, his voice nervous.

"It's been along time," Rachel said looking over to Simmons.

Sam, Rachel, Simmons, and Dutch were soon lead into an underground room with dim lighting by the cosmonauts. The place was dark and damp, Rachel did not like it at all, but she followed because she knew this had to be the key to the entire project they were investigating.

"You are about to see one of the biggest Soviet secrets," one of the cosmonauts said leading them to a small table at the end of the hallway.

He pulled out a thick file from a cabinet and dropped it on the table.

"America first to send man to the moon, but USSR first to send camera," said the cosmonaut with red hair through his thick accent.

Sam sat down across from the cosmonauts, Rachel, Simmons, and Dutch standing behind him.

"In 1959 our Luna 3 take picture of the dark, the shadow side, sees nothing. But in 1963, Luna 4 sees..." the redheaded cosmonaut said in his broken English.

"Strange rocks," the bald cosmonaut finished.

"Yeah," agreed the other.

"Around the ship, hundreds of them," the bald one said.

"Here, show picture," the redhead said.

The bald cosmonaut handed Sam a picture. Rachel looked over his shoulder, looking at the picture. What she saw made her eyes widen, she'd seen those "strange rocks" before, but they weren't rocks.

"Sam..." Rachel started.

"With drag marks," the bald cosmonaut finished.

"I've seen these. These aren't rocks, these are pillars, alien pillars for a space bridge. We know about them because the Autobots have five of these," Sam said.

Rachel didn't know why he was saying this, the cosmonauts wouldn't know about the Autobots, but she figured Sam was also telling Simmons as well. Then, Simmons said exactly what Rachel was thinking.

"The Decepticons must have raided the ship before Apollo 11 even got there, took the pillars, and hid them," Simmons said.

"It doesn't make sense, the Decepticons have the ship, they have all those pillars, why would they leave Sentinel when he's the only one that can use them?" Sam said.

"Unless..." Simmons and Rachel said together.

"He's the one thing they still need," Sam said in a hard realization.

"Shit..." Rachel muttered.

They quickly thanked the cosmonauts and left as fast as they could. Rachel pulled out her cell and dialed Lennox's number.

"We've got to meet up with Sentinel, rendezvous with him and keep him safe," Sam said as Rachel's phone was dialing.

"_Lennox,_" Lennox answered.

"Lennox! We think Sentinel's in danger. The Decepticons raided the _Ark_ before Apollo got there and took the other pillars, they left Sentinel and we believe he's the only thing they're still after," Rachel told Lennox.

"_Are you sure?_" Lennox asked.

"Positive. We're picking up Sentinel and then heading straight to NEST, Bumblebee, Mirage, and Sideswipe are with us. Sam's gonna call Mearing once we pick up Sentinel, I'll see you soon," Rachel said.

"_Okay, just, please, be safe, Rachel," _Lennox said.

"I'll call you if I get any more intel for you, and I'll be safe, I certainly don't want Ironhide on my case right now," Rachel said trying to lighten the mood.

The call ended and Rachel climbed into Bumblebee after Sam, her anxiety rising.

**Well well tension is building...not going to say much comic-con is still on XP**


	7. Chapter 7

**I will be going on a trip -again with the annoying person, trust me this is against my will to be near her I want to _enjoy_ my vacation- soon so I will try to upload again before I leave. Here you go beware this chapter is long...**

**Chapter 7**

They drove to where Bee had picked up Sentinel's signal. It didn't take them long to find the number 316 of an old model of a Fire Rescue engine. Sam got out of Bee and walked to the median under a vacant overpass they had stopped at. He called Mearing and told her what was happening.

"Mearing, I just picked up Sentinel, Optimus is ten minutes behind, we're coming to NEST now," Rachel heard Sam half yell over the roar of the fire truck's diesel engine as it drove by.

Sam waited until Sentinel had passed then darted back to Bumblebee and got in the driver's seat next to Rachel. Sam didn't say anything for a while and Rachel figured it was Mearing talking.

"Listen, the whole thing has been a setup since the beginning, the Decepticons wanted Optimus to find Sentinel because only Optimus could revive him," Sam said.

There was a short pause as Mearing spoke.

"Mearing, you have five pillars, I just learned that they have hundreds! You're doing exactly what they wanted you to do. What do you need me to say to you? The Decepticons are coming for Sentinel Prime!" Sam said angrily then ended the call.

Sentinel was in front, Bumblebee was in between Sideswipe and Mirage, making a protective line behind Sentinel, Simmons behind the row of Autobots. The Autobots drove quickly, trying to get back to NEST before the Decepticons learned they were onto their plan. Rachel's phone started ringing beside her at the same time she heard sirens in the distance.

"Lennox?" Rachel answered.

"_Rachel, where are you?_" Lennox asked hastily.

"Driving down the D.C parkway," Rachel answered.

Lennox muttered something inaudible, "_We just picked up an Energon reading there, three black Suburbans. Rachel, get off of that road _now_!"_

"Shit! We can't! Lennox, they're right behind us!" Rachel exclaimed as the police Suburbans sped up behind them, they're lights and sirens blaring.

"_Rachel, let the Autobots take care of it, you'll be fine, just stay calm,"_ Lennox said. "_You're almost here."_

"Are you trying to assure me or yourself?" Rachel asked with a nervous laugh.

The truth was, she was scared, even though she'd been through this what seemed like a thousand times it still chilled her to know Decepticons were in close range of her. If the Decepticons didn't kill her, Ironhide would.

"_Be careful, please,_" Lennox said.

As soon as the line went dead Rachel turned to Sam.

"Decepticons!" she yelled pointing to the Suburbans behind them.

Suddenly, the closest of the three Suburbans transformed running down the road after them. It grabbed Simmons, throwing him out of his car. The Decepticon rolled and jumped over an sign over the road, knocking it down. Rachel saw that the Decepticon had tentacle-like things coming off of it back, almost like hair. She saw as Dutch stopped the white car in front of the fallen road sign, but the other Suburbans used it like a ramp, transforming in the air. Two of the Decepticons ran after the Autobots, the other on all fours that looked like a tiger.

"Bee, you gotta get Sentinel out of here! You got to guard him!" Sam yelled.

These Decepticons weren't small in any manner, they were huge, but Rachel trusted the Autobots.

The Decepticons ran down the highway, barreling through anything in their path. They got closer and closer to the Autobots who continued to drive at top speed. As the Decepticons came behind the Autobots, Bumblebee stopped suddenly and one of the Decepticons jumped over him. Sideswipe and Bumblebee partially transformed to where their weapons were out, but they were still their cars. Bumblebee shot at the Decepticons, Sideswipe shooting missiles at them. Mirage transformed, jumping over a demolished car and hooked lines on the tiger Decepticon.

"Got you!" Mirage said laughing as the Decepticon pulled him down the parkway like he was skiing.

"Shoot him! Shoot him! Shoot him, Bee!" Sam yelled.

Bumblebee shot missiles at the Decepticon, Mirage pulling the Decepticon into another car, snapping its head off. The other Decepticons were still ahead of the Autobots leaving a wave of demolished, flipping cars. Bumblebee vaulted over one of the cars in his path, going high in the air before landing on the road again, Side swipe following. Bee and Sideswipe transformed back into their cars, Mirage speeding up behind them. One of the Decepticons had transformed back into its Suburban, the other running in front of it.

"Bee, you've gotta move faster! Faster, Bee, go!" Sam yelled.

Rachel gasped as the Decepticon turned over a truck with what looked like helium tanks on it. Mirage was far enough ahead of them to be able to dodge the truck, but Rachel knew Bee wouldn't be able to avoid the truck unless...

"Bee!" Sam exclaimed flinching.

Bee transformed all the way, jumping over the overturned truck, Rachel and Sam thrown into the air away from him. Bee grabbed Sam and something grabbed Rachel. There were flashes of silver and black, Rachel's vision blurred by the speed of the colors' movements. Rachel suddenly found herself sitting in the passenger's seat of the silver Corvette.

"Sideswipe!" Rachel exclaimed happily.

The Corvette sped at top speed back to the NEST base after the red Ferrari.

The Decepticons were right behind Sideswipe as he and Mirage drove down the road leading right to the NEST base. Rachel could see it as the gates opened, letting the black Topkick out. Rachel was thrown from Sideswipe as he transformed, skating on his wheeled feet backwards.

"Mirage, I got 'em!" Sideswipe said shooting at the Decepticons.

Rachel rolled down the street, hitting the edge of the sidewalk. She was surprised she hadn't been hurt when she got up and started running down the sidewalk. She saw Bumblebee pull out from another road and pass the Topkick as it sped at the Suburbans. Rachel ran through a group of women as they screamed and ran away from the action. Rachel stopped, seeing the Topkick heading straight for the Suburbans, she knew he wouldn't stop. The Topkick collided with the two Suburbans, all three transforming. Rachel could clearly see the Decepticons had gotten the worst of it, both had crashed into the ground. Sideswipe came back to help Ironhide as the Decepticons started to get up. Ironhide and Sideswipe both pulled their guns out, each pointing a gun at the Decepticons, the Decepticons pointing a gun at each Autobot.

"Is there a problem?" Ironhide said.

"Whoa, a little Mexican standoff we got here," Sideswipe said.

"Weapons down," Ironhide said.

"And we'll let you escape with your dignity," Sideswipe added.

The Decepticons made noises to each other, like they were talking, and Rachel would have bet it was Cybertronian.

"Drop 'em!" Ironhide demanded.

All at once both Autobot and Decepticon dropped their weapons, the huge guns clanking on the ground. Rachel smiled, rolling her eyes, Ironhide seemed to always get his way.

"That's good," Sideswipe said.

Suddenly, a weapon transformed from one of the Decepticons and he threw the spiked weapon at Ironhide.

"Ironhide, watch out!" Sideswipe yelled.

He was too late, the weapon struck Ironhide in the shoulder.

"Ironhide!" Rachel exclaimed.

The Decepticon threw another of the spiked weapons at Sideswipe, but Sideswipe had been prepared. Sideswipe jumped in the air, cutting the weapon in half with one of his blades.

"Ironhide, catch!" he said landing, turning and kicking one of the guns on the ground to Ironhide.

Ironhide caught the gun and turned, shooting the Decepticon that was jumping at him.

"Behind you!" Sideswipe yelled.

Sideswipe fought off the other Decepticon with his blades, Ironhide turned and shot the Decepticon with the gun. The Decepticon kicked Sideswipe away and lunged at Ironhide. Ironhide was prepared this time and pulled the spiked weapon out of his shoulder and impaled the Decepticon in the face with it. He grabbed the edge of the weapon, picking up the Decepticon.

"Decepticon punk," Ironhide said throwing the Decepticon into a car.

He kicked the car into a building, the building exploding in flames.

"Class dismissed," Ironhide said replacing his weapons.

Rachel climbed in the Topkick when it stopped next to her; she knew she'd get a good talking to when the intensity died down. Ironhide drove back to NEST, the other Autobots speeding through the gates outside the building. Ironhide flanked Sentinel as the fire engine drove through the gates.

"Get inside, let's go!" Rachel heard Lennox yell.

Ironhide stopped and Rachel climbed out of the Topkick, she walked over to Lennox at the same time as Sam. Rachel could see Lennox wasn't happy at all, this was complete insanity.

"Lennox..." Rachel started.

"Lennox! We got Decepticons everywhere," Sam said.

"I've got my whole team deployed looking for them. Ironhide! Protect Sentinel, get him locked up inside!" Lennox said.

Ironhide had transformed and was standing in front of Sentinel.  
>"Consider it done!" Ironhide said.<p>

Sentinel also started to transform.

"Hey, you gotta guard him, 'cause he's the key to the whole thing," Sam said to Lennox.

Rachel nodded in agreement to Lennox.

"Indeed, I am," Sentinel said.

Rachel turned in horror, the way he said it sent chills down her.

_No,_ she thought, her worst fears starting to form into a reality.

"What you must realize, my Autobot brothers, is that we were never going to win the war," Sentinel continued.

Rachel saw Sam and Lennox look at him with the same wide eyes as herself.

_Shit, no!_ she thought.

She had a feeling about what was going on and she didn't want to believe it was true. She could only watch in horror.

"For the sake of our planet's survival a deal had to be made," Sentinel continued turning away from them.

Rachel could have sworn she'd seen him draw a-

"With Megatron!" Sentinel finished.

"NO!" the horrible scream tore from Rachel's lips before she could stop it as Sentinel turned and shot Ironhide in the back.

Sentinel had shot Ironhide again before anyone else besides Rachel had realized what had just happened. Ironhide fell to the ground.

"Get back!" Lennox yelled but Rachel didn't move, she was in too much shock.

"What have you done!" Ironhide said to Sentinel.

"I hereby discharge you from duty," Sentinel said shooting Ironhide again in the chest.

Bumblebee -who had come up to them- was blown back from the blast. Rachel was thrown the ground by the blast, as were Sam and Lennox, but immediately got up. She could only stand there, speechless, watching as her whole world was torn apart. Bumblebee dodged the shots Sentinel sent at him, trying to get away. Sam's cries out to Bumblebee were muted to Rachel, she stood there unmoving. She caught Ironhide's glance for one second. He rolled his eyes at her, feigning normalcy, Rachel held back her tears and responded normally deciding to play his game, mock-rolling her eyes to Ironhide as if to tease "Oh, get up you're fine," but she knew things were by no means "fine."

"Rachel!" Lennox yelled.

Rachel took one last look at Ironhide before Lennox pulled her to the ground, shielding her as Sentinel fired more shots at the NEST forces. Lennox quickly got up, pulling Rachel along behind a wall where Sam was also hiding.

"Rally all NEST forces back to the base!" Lennox yelled at one of the soldiers.

"Come on!" he yelled pulling Sam and Rachel into the base.

Tears -that had been held back by shock- flooded Rachel's eyes when she stopped inside the base. The center of her whole world had just died, sending her sobbing uncontrollably. She looked around seeing the NEST soldiers she had worked with clustered in the entrance to the base, pulling their injured comrades to safety.

"Get a medic down here!" one of the soldiers yelled.

"Alright, we don't have enough men! Do _not_ engage Sentinel!" Lennox yelled.

He ran through the base, Rachel and Sam following him. They got to the hangar and what Rachel saw was complete chaos. Sentinel was demolishing every single aircraft and vehicle in the hangar, making it roar with flames of the explosions. The NEST soldiers fired at him in vain, he was unstoppable. To make it even better Mearing burst through the door behind Rachel, walking past her and next to the railing of the balcony.

"Hey, Sentinel! What is going on! What do you think you're doing!" Mearing yelled.

One of the soldiers fired a missile at Sentinel, but he blocked it with his shield.

"I am a Prime! I do not take orders from you!" Sentinel fired back.

Lennox ran from Rachel's side and pulled Mearing back.

"Director Mearing, come on. We can't fight him, let's go, we have to go," Lennox said.

"Now, return what belongs to me!" Sentinel exclaimed.

"Oh, my God!" Mearing exclaimed, letting Lennox pull her away.

Sam came with them as they left the hangar, leaving Sentinel as he transformed and drove away. The red and blue semi pulled into the hangar, and for once Rachel found herself mad at Optimus. He had been more than ten minutes behind and could have helped a great deal, but he hadn't been there when he had been needed most. Shock, sadness, and anger were clouding Rachel's head, making it spin.

"Is everybody out?" Lennox yelled.

The semi stopped and transformed, Rachel could see the sadness on Optimus' face as he stood at his full height. He looked around the hangar, seeing the carnage Sentinel had caused. She felt bad for getting mad at him, though, she figured she hadn't really been mad; her mind was just being assaulted by conflicted emotions.

"Yeah, take a look, Optimus! This all on you!" Mearing yelled.

Rachel's emotions exploded in a fury at Mearing.

"Shut up! Optimus was just betrayed by the one he looked up to most! You are just kicking him while he's down! Don't even _begin_ to blame him for this, because half of it was _your _fault!" Rachel yelled unable to hide her true feelings toward the woman any longer.

Mearing, Sam, and Lennox looked at Rachel in shock before she bolted down the steps into the hangar to Optimus.

Behind her Rachel heard a soldier report to Lennox.

"Sentinel hit the vault, took the pillars," the soldier said.

Lennox kicked the wall, walking away after the soldiers. Rachel turned back to Optimus, he turned to leave.

"Optimus, please," Rachel said.

He looked back at her.

"Let me go with you," she said.

"Rachel..."

"I know you're going after Sentinel," Rachel said.

"Its too dangerous, Rachel, stay with NEST..."

"He killed Ironhide! Optimus, please, I want to stop him as much as you do," Rachel sobbed.

She was sick of people and the Autobots telling her things were too dangerous, now she no longer cared for her own safety; all she wanted was revenge.

**Yeah this was a tough chapter to write, mainly considering that I did NOT want to watch that scene over and over to get the wording and actions right. Ironhide was without a doubt my favorite Transformer along with Bumblebee, this part killed me when I first watched it in theaters. It wasn't hard to convey Rachel's emotions in this part. Anyway I am a few sentences away from completely finishing this fanfic...it's very bitter-sweet but I also have tons of other to write. I do have a feeling though that this was my favorite of the ones ive written, maybe not the best because it was also the first real fanfic I wrote. New uploads will occur consistently..if I can remember.**

**If you want a little slightly depressing fact for this... the twins -who were originally were supposed to be in the movie- were also written to die from sentinel's hand in this scene protecting bumblebee. I am rly not liking the writers for this movie right now...**


	8. Chapter 8

**So here's an update before I leave. And just when you think things can't get worse...**

**Chapter 8**

Rachel looked up at Optimus, she knew she had to do something.

"What can I do?" she asked pulling out her handgun.

She quickly checked to make sure it was loaded in case she encountered danger, and she knew she would.

"I'm not coming to be a burden, Optimus, I want to help," Rachel said.

Optimus considered her claim for a second before replying.

"I'm sure I'll need your help, Rachel, but those bullets will do no good against the Decepticons," Optimus said.

"Oh, I'm sure they will," Rachel said smiling.

Optimus gave her a look of confusion and then realization.

"Ironhide..." he said in defeat.

Rachel smiled, "Yeah, he never wanted me to be undefended against the Decepticons. I wasn't about to argue, I seem to be a Decepticon magnet."

Rachel fought to keep the tears back that were creeping up on her again. She averted her gaze out of the hangar, it was almost nighttime. So much had fallen apart in one day, it seemed like some horrible nightmare, but she knew it wasn't, this was real and there was nothing she could do.

As they prepared to leave, Optimus still hadn't answered Rachel's question. She followed him across the hangar.

"Optimus, will Sentinel use the pillars?" Rachel asked. "What will he do with them?"

"Let us hope he will not," Optimus replied.

Rachel knew it was something bad if Optimus didn't want to tell her what would happen. She'd already had a feeling when Sentinel said in the hands of the Decepticons the pillars would be dangerous and the end of their world, now he was running with the Deceptions in possession of the pillars.

"What can I do?" she insisted.

"Do not engage the Decepticons, but if you get a chance to shoot the pillars down, take it," Optimus said.

He transformed as the sun sank below the horizon, darkness painting the sky outside. Rachel climbed into the semi, now anything could happen.

At first Rachel had no clue where the semi was going, then she started to recognize the memorials and statues they were passing. As soon as she realized they were headed toward the Lincoln Memorial the semi stopped outside the memorial, Rachel taking the signal to climb out. Optimus transformed, looking around and then at Rachel.

"Stay hidden, Sentinel has the pillars out," Optimus whispered.

Rachel looked at him, nodded and hid behind some of the shrubbery surrounding the yard outside memorial. Optimus ran up to where Rachel could now see Sentinel standing over the shallow, rectangular pool that stretched out for a few yards. The pillars floated over the water, one of which Sentinel had his hand on. She knew this couldn't be good even before Optimus ran up to him.

"Stop! No, no, Sentinel!" Optimus yelled.

Suddenly, blue lights came up from the pillars, shooting into the sky, a barrier made from the same blue-colored lighting-like energy formed between each pillar, connecting them. Rachel's eyes widened as a few minutes later many Transformers -who appeared to be Decepticons- jumped out of the barrier. They crashed into the lawn and ran in different directions at full speed. Rachel jumped as someone touched her on the shoulder, she was so shocked by the Decepticons suddenly appearing out of the barrier she hadn't noticed Lennox coming up behind her.

"Lennox!" Rachel exclaimed.

"Rachel, what are you doing here, we need to leave now!" Lennox yelled pulling her along.

Rachel ran after Lennox as Optimus tried to run after Sentinel, dodging his shots.

"Autobots, retreat!" Optimus yelled.

Rachel watched as the new Decepticons ran out into the streets, firing their weapons at anything. She noticed that Bumblebee and Mirage had come with Lennox and the other NEST members. She heard sirens of police cars, which she would bet were attempting to barricade the Decepticons, but judging by the crashes and banging they weren't doing any good. Rachel watched as countless Decepticons flooded the streets. Seeing as there was nothing they could do, the local police were issuing civilians to stay inside and NEST left.

The NEST members got back to the base, and Lennox walked up to Rachel.

"What are we going to do?" Rachel asked in a frightened voice.

"I don't know, but we're going to stop it, this isn't over," Lennox said. "Rachel, I need you to do something for me."

"Anything," Rachel said.

"I have to go the Pentagon for a meeting about all of this, I need you to keep close eyes on our beloved government officials..." Lennox said with slight sarcasm.

Rachel knew he was trying to lighten the mood.

"So when I come back I know that you haven't let them take over, okay?" Lennox said.

"Lennox, I can't-I'm not-" Rachel started.

"Not officially, Rachel, personally, I know you can do it because your logic is like mine, you know the Autobots, they don't," Lennox said.

Rachel smiled, "Okay."

After Lennox left NEST was moved to a hangar Rachel had never been to, nor recognized. It had NEST jets and a few long desks with their technology on them, but she'd never been there. Soon after, Sam -who she was just noticing had been gone through all of this- was escorted in by some agents. Rachel stood next to Mearing and her entourage watching a video feed from the Pentagon on one of the large computer screens. She was glad to see General Morshower along side Lennox who was explaining what had happened.

"_Combatant Commands are now at DEFCON 1_," General Morshower said.

"_Approximately two hundred Decepticons are now in hiding, Energon detectors have been triggered as far away as South America and China_,"Lennox said.

A man in uniform came on screen and whispered something to Lennox and General Morshower, handing them a manila folder. Rachel caught words like "U.N","Autobots" and "Audio file" she had a feeling it wasn't good.

Sam walked her way and Mearing met him. Rachel immediately noticed Sam didn't look himself, and he had an unfamiliar watch on his wrist. She discounted the watch and focused on the fact that he looked _off_, but she figured so did she because she hadn't slept, showered or been emotionally stable in a long while.

"We'll debrief you in transit," Mearing said to Sam.

"Yeah, I really don't see how I could be of any help, I mean you guys seem pretty busy, we could just do this another time, I think," Sam said.

As soon as he'd started talking, Rachel noticed something definitely was up with him. He was twitching in pain and his arm with the watch on seemed to move on its own sporadically, and his voice was nervous. Mearing seemed to notice as well, but she ignored it.

"I have underestimated you at every turn," she said.

_You're just realizing this now!_ Rachel thought, and her eyebrows raised.

Sam stuttered, "What?" he finally managed to get out.

Rachel now _knew_ something was wrong, whenever Sam started stuttering, things weren't good.

"You warned us that they were using humans, and you knew that Sentinel was the key," Mearing said.

Rachel shook her head in defeat. Now, when things were clearly out of hand -and could have been prevented if Mearing had listened a long while ago- did she finally realize this.

"Director!" an agent called, Mearing walked away leaving Sam and Rachel.

Sam stuttered again, "Who am I? Hey, you're the expert, I'm just a walking security risk."

He tensed up as if he'd been shot up with pain and then seemed to be rolled by an invisible force across one of the tables. He came up beside where Mearing was standing. Rachel's eyes widened and she walked quickly _around_ the table to meet up with Sam.

"Sam...are you okay?" she whispered.

"Are you alright?" Mearing asked at the same time.

Sam tensed up again and grabbed at the watch on his wrist, his face had turned red.

"Yes," he answered in a pain-stricken voice.

"No, you're not, you're sweating," Mearing said.

"I'm fine, I'm fine," Sam tried to assure her. "I'm sweating because I'm nervous, I'm nervous because you got me in here with all this information. Okay, I'm a Twitter junkie, I blog everything. I can't keep a secret to save my life."

"Oh, you wouldn't dare," Mearing said.

"That's the truth, I'm telling you," Sam said.

Rachel knew: it wasn't the truth. Sam was hiding something and she had to figure out what it was.

"Director, the Pentagon's calling in 15," Mearing's assistant called.

Rachel watched Sam, not speaking to him, she looked at the watch on his wrist. One thought came to mind.

_Decepticon,_ she thought, but it didn't make sense.

How could a Decepticon gotten hold of him in the first place? Why wasn't he saying anything? Why didn't he try to get it off? It made no sense, but Rachel had a feeling she was right. She left Sam and walked past one of the TV screens, stopping in shock.

"_It has been a remarkable series of events today at the Capitol. Just moments ago, legislation was passed to exile the Autobots from American shores. The U.S military alliance with them is officially over,_" came the CNN reporter's voice.

Rachel watched the TV in horror.

"No..no...no they can't," she said almost inaudibly.

She turned to face Mearing, who had just put down her cell.

"You have to stop it," Rachel said.

"It's out of my hands, Agent Hallows," Mearing replied, she seemed shocked at the news as well, and genuinely sorry.

Rachel had had it, but she didn't burst out, she merely stuttered over her own words as she tried to convey what she _knew_ would happen.

"All of you," she said motioning to everyone around her, "may not know what's going to happen...but...I...I do and it's not good...I've seen it before. Once the Autobots are gone, we'll be at the mercy of the Decepticons, which I do not want to be at. They'll either enslave or kill us, I personally think the latter."

"It's out of my hands,agent," Mearing said.

Her words meant nothing to Rachel. She felt as if no one was listening to her.

"I don't care if it's out of your hands, Mearing! They came for our 'resources'?" Rachel mocked. "Well, I heard no one even ask _what_ resources! And then they'll leave_ peacefully_? They are Deceptions for God sakes! _Decepti_cons! They _lie_! If you don't do something, I will."

"What would you do, agent? You couldn't hide yourself, let alone them. The vote was unanimous, all of the countries want them gone..." Mearing said.

"'All of the countries,'" Rachel said mock-smiling. "They hardly know a thing about the Autobots. They haven't -and no one has- worked with the Autobots as long as I have. I am not saying just because of this my word is always right, I'm just saying no one knows what I know about them...and what I know is that this so-called 'plan' _will_ get us killed."

Mearing picked up her cell again. For once she seemed sincere about Rachel's words, but Rachel knew -as did Mearing- there was nothing just the two of them could do. This exact situation had been threatened four years ago in the events leading up to Egypt. Rachel had mocked and scorned the idea when Galloway had suggested it, and laughed at Optimus' perfect rebuttal. But now the words "_What if we leave...and you're wrong_" stuck in her head. Now, this was real, the Autobots _were_ leaving and the humans _were_ wrong, the Autobots were their only chance at survival and now that meant nothing.

Sam seemed to finally catch up to the pace, "What? They can't do this, you've got to tell them they can't do that," he said to Mearing.

Rachel knew only Sam, Lennox, and herself truly understood the consequences and stupidity of this.

"Okay, it's official, it's a go, people!" Mearing called to everyone in the hangar, putting her cell away.

"These are our allies. The Autobots fought for us, they fought _with_ us," Sam said.

"And where are we now?" Mearing asked rhetorically. "Facing an enemy invasion with an enemy that has the means to deploy countless more."

She walked away, motioning for them to follow her into a private jet. Rachel looked hopelessly at Sam, he mirrored her, and they both followed Mearing.

The jet headed for the Kennedy Space Center in Florida. Rachel sat at a table by Sam, across from Mearing. No one spoke, Rachel's head spun with mixed emotions; fear, anger, and melancholy.

"If there is anything more you know, anything at all about the enemy's intentions, now's the time to tell," Mearing said to Sam.

Rachel had no clue what Mearing meant, when would Sam have been around Decepticons and their plans? Everything was falling apart now, and it was only going to get worse, if the Autobots were going the humans would have no protection but NEST and Rachel -though she didn't want to believe it- knew NEST alone couldn't take out all the Decepticons.

"The Autobots have no way of leaving this planet," Sam said.

"And that is where you're wrong," Mearing said.

The jet started landing as Mearing started telling Sam about the _Xanthium._

"It's name is the _Xanthium, _it brought the second wave of Autobots and it's been under NASA's care and study ever since," Mearing said. "We linked it with a decommissioned shuttle to maintain military control until they're gone."

The plane landed and the three of them were ushered into a black Suburban and drove up a road to a platform slowly moving to the launch pad. Rachel saw two unfamiliar Autobots atop the massive platform. They got out of the Suburban, standing and watching the platform moving.

"There's gonna be ten thousand pounds of torque on that itsy-bitsy boat, not nineteen!" one of the unfamiliar Autobots yelled.

"You're gonna risk the lives of all me mates! I'll ball ya!" the other one yelled in a Scottish accent.

Rachel then noticed another one of them at the base of the platform, but he wasn't speaking.

"These guys are the Wreckers, they take care of the _Xanthium_. We don't let them off the base much, 'cause they're assholes," Mearing said.

"You gotta pull that, ya nancy wanker!" the Scottish Wrecker yelled to a man walking behind the platform.

Rachel walked over to the platform, recognizing one of the men standing at its base.

"Epps!" Rachel called.

She knew he'd retired, but she hadn't seen him since. Sam walked up behind Rachel, seeing Epps too.

"Epps!" Sam called.

Rachel and Sam walked over to meet Epps, he and Sam met in a sort-of high five, Rachel didn't understand guys.

"What up, man?" Epps asked Sam.

"What are you doing here?" Sam asked.

Rachel could see that Sam wouldn't let go of Epps' hand, or rather _couldn't_.

"I retired from the Air Force. Can you let my hand go?" he said.

Sam finally manage to pull his hand off Epps'.

"What the hell was that?" Epps said.

Rachel smiled and walked after Epps.

"Haven't seen you in a while, you could have at least called Lennox or something," Rachel joked.

"Been busy here ever since they decided to go to the Moon," Epps replied.

Sam caught up with them after trying to regain control of his arm.

"Now I just consult to run interference for them," Epps said looking up at the Wreckers.

"Well, you're not helping!" one of the Wreckers yelled.

"No more combat and aliens shooting at my ass, I got a dream job," Epps said.

As Rachel got closer to the Wreckers she noticed what cars they had transformed from and it certainly fit their location. After a few years living in Florida, Rachel recognized the NASCAR Impalas they had scanned. The Scottish one was the number 88 Amp car, the other one standing on the platform -who looked like he was overweight- was the number 42 Target car, and the light blue, silent one standing next to Rachel, Epps, and Sam was the 48 Lowe's car. The Amp car threw down a piece of machinery to the 48 car, and he walked away.

"Time to get off this planet!" the Amp car yelled.

"Kicking the Autobots out, can you believe this is happening?" Epps said.

Rachel shook her head, she didn't want to believe it.

"Where do you think it's taking them?" Sam asked.

"Any planet but here," Epps replied.

Rachel and Sam followed Mearing and the other agents of hers and some of NEST's non-military members into a building/hangar outside the road leading to the launch pad. Rachel was talking with Sam when two familiar faces walked into the building, well, one of them walked in any case. Simmons was in a motorized wheel chair with a cast on his leg, Dutch walked beside him with a neck brace on. Rachel had worried about them since the highway incident, but it had flown to the back of her mind because of all the other events.

"I wanna talk to whoever's in charge here!" Simmons demanded.

Rachel followed Mearing around some tables with computer screens on them, but Mearing was cut off by Simmons.

"Well, well, well, Charlotte Mearing," Simmons said slowly.

"Agent Simmons- Former Agent Simmons," Mearing corrected herself.

Rachel cast her glance beside her where Sam was squirming and trying to control his arm again.

"So, I see you survived Washington," Mearing said.

"Washington, Egypt, heartbreak. I survive. I will survive," Simmons said. "They're bringing everybody in, kid, putting all the intel on the table."

Simmons moved his wheelchair in a circle around Mearing.

"And if you think deporting nine Autobots is gonna solve a damn thing..." Simmons said.

"It's out of my hands," Mearing defended.

She walked away, Simmons, her entourage, and Dutch following her.

Rachel turned to Sam, but then a wire cage caught her attention. Inside the cage were Wheelie and Brains.

"Sammy, listen to me, don't let them exile us," Wheelie said.

"Don't let them take us, Sam," Brains said.

"It's a Decepticon trap," Wheelie said as a worker took the cage away.

Rachel ran outside the hangar and looked down the road, tears slid down her face as she saw the Autobots being escorted down the road by helicopters and military trucks. Bumblebee, Mirage, Sideswipe, Que, the three Wreckers, Ratchet, and Optimus formed a single file line down the road as the drove the the launch pad. It was over, nothing could be done, the Autobots were leaving.

**When you realize the movies depict _exactly_ the reaction our government would have in this type of situation... Yep, this is pretty much what they'd do... Another completely depressing part of this movie XD So I'll update when I get back from this trip on...Monday, sorry ppls no internet there but there is some shaky connection so if I manage to connect in the middle of the week I will upload then.**


	9. Chapter 9

**Well here's my after-vacation upload...I was surprised by being taken camping in a pop up camper having to walk through the woods to the bathroom in the middle of the night XD probably not the best way to get me in the spirit of camping even though I love the outdoors...anyway the point is there was no way to get internet so here you go:**

**Chapter 9**

The Autobots drove past the hangar and Rachel climbed into one of the SUVs after Sam, it followed the Autobots up to the launch pad. Rachel got out of the SUV first and ran over to the Autobots. She found Ratchet standing there as if he'd been waiting for her. She walked up to him, her dampened eyes downcast.

"Ratchet, I'm sorry our race can't understand you guys are here to help," she said almost choking on her own words.

"No, it's not your fault, Rachel, we said we would honor your planet's rights and we are. Here, I believe I have something that belongs to you," Ratchet said.

He dropped a small silver object in Rachel's hand. She looked down at it and fought back tears.

"My ring," she said looking down at the Autobot insignia inscribed on it.

"I thought I lost it forever the night I socked Ironhide," Rachel said smiling past tears and placing the ring back on her finger.

"He told me what it meant to you, he found it and gave it to me a few days ago to hold it until I could give it back," Ratchet said.

Rachel battled tears, trying to keep them in, this scenario was exactly like before, her ring, the Autobots leaving, but now she knew they wouldn't be back. Ever. The only thing she had left that reminded her of Ironhide was the ring, she was glad she had it back, but the memory would always be bitter-sweet. She looked up at Ratchet, the Florida sunlight glinting off the tears she'd lost the battle with.

"If you leave, they're going to kill us, we'll die...all of us. You are our only hope and they're sending you away, it's all so wrong," Rachel said.

"You won't die, Rachel, NEST is still out there, and they -and Colonel Lennox- will do everything to protect the human race," Ratchet said.

Rachel knew Ratchet knew what she said was true, but she also knew he didn't want her to worry. She looked down at her ring again, then back up at Ratchet.

"Thank you, Ratchet, and I guess this is good-bye?" Rachel said.

"Good-bye, Rachel," Ratchet said walking back with the rest of the Autobots as they prepared to leave.

Rachel turned and started walking back, she saw Optimus standing in front of Sam. She walked up to Sam, standing next to him.

"What your leaders say is true. This was all my fault, I told them whom to trust...I was so wrong," Optimus said.

Sam had been shaking his head, "That doesn't make it your fault, it just makes you human for a change."

"Remember this, you may lose your faith in us, but never in yourselves," Optimus said.

Sam suddenly tensed up beside Rachel, grunting in pain. Tears continued to roll down her cheeks as Optimus started walking away, Sam looked about ready to tear up too.

"I need to know how you're gonna fight back. I know this is strategy, I- I know you're coming back with reinforcements, something, I know there's a plan," Sam's voice started choking up as he spoke. "You can tell me, no other _human _will ever know."

Optimus looked back at them, "There is no plan."

There was a short pause between them, tears had started falling from Sam's face now.

"If we just do what they want, how are we going to live with ourselves?" he said.

"You are my friend, Sam, you always will be," Optimus said leaning down.

He stood back up straight again and looked over the land, "But your leaders have spoken. From here, the fight will be your own."

Optimus turned and started walking back towards the shuttle, he passed Bumblebee and Bee started walking toward Sam. Rachel saw Sam was crying just as hard as she was, and they were the only ones, she knew why too. The Autobots meant more to them than any other person here, they'd fought with the Autobots and in Egypt fought _for_ them. They'd both almost lost their lives trying to save Optimus, and succeeded. That brought them closer to the Autobots than any other person on this planet, and for that it was unbearable for them to see the Autobots go.

Bumblebee had walked up to Sam and Rachel, while she was thinking.

"All right, hustle up! We're launching at dawn!" one of the Wreckers called out.

Bumblebee knelt down in front of Sam.

"_We're gonna do whatever we can, to make it like it was. You will always be my friend, Sam. I gotta be going on_," Bumblebee said through his radio.

Bee stood back up and walked back to the other Autobots, Rachel could see Sam's eyes filling with tears, her own were as well. She knew how strong the bond was between Sam and Bee was, it often reminded her own of the one she had with Ironhide. She knew how hard it was for Sam to know Bee was leaving. Sam went over to the railing and knelt down, holding it, he cried as hard as Rachel who stood behind him. Rachel's face felt hot and sticky from the heat and her tears, she couldn't stop them though. She thought after Ironhide she wouldn't have had any more tears to cry, but apparently she had a lot to spare. She then noticed Simmons had come up behind them.

"Years from now they're gonna ask 'Where were you when they took over the planet?' We're gonna say, 'We just stood by and watched,'" Simmons said.

For Rachel dawn couldn't come soon enough. Every second that went by made her hate the Autobots leaving even more to a point where she felt like she would explode from her emotions. She paced the inside of the hangar all night in stead of sleeping. Adrenaline was what was keeping her awake as the late-night hours rolled by, if not for that she would have dropped on the hard floor and slept. She also did _not_ want dawn to come, she didn't want to see the Autobots go, but then again she knew time wouldn't change anything so she wished for it to be over faster. After many days of being up, the Sun finally rose on the most important and life-changing day. Rachel walked outside in the pre-dawn light, she saw Sam had gone to the roof of one of the buildings a mile or so from the launch pad. She left the hangar and walked a few feet where she found a ladder leading up to the roof Sam was on. She climbed up the ladder and walked across the roof, coming next to Sam, she sat down next to him.

The Decepticons had taken everything from her; her family, almost her life, and Ironhide, and now they were taking the only thing she had left. She was sick of it, but she knew nothing could be done to change the way things had become. She ignored the courtesy of asking Sam something like "Sleep well?" because she knew his answer would be the same as hers. Silence was the only thing that passed between them, words would have been too hard. Florida mornings were better than Washington mornings to Rachel -she decided this as she tried to take her mind off things- it was warm but not humid and not at all like the chilly D.C morning air. She remembered how much she'd liked Florida as a kid; the beaches, the weather, the whole lifestyle were fascinating to her. Of course, that was before she moved to L.A -which she had liked almost as much- and then her whole life had been turned upside-down.

Helicopters circled the launch pad as the Sun rose over the horizon. Rachel had been to many shuttle launches when she'd lived here, but now this was different. She looked at Sam, his eyes were fixed on the launch pad, Rachel mimicked his glance. She could barely hear the countdown from the distance, but she didn't have to hear "zero" before she knew they'd reached it. Smoke billowed up from the ground as the space craft's engines roared to life. Rachel could see the _Xanthium _as it shot off a pillar of flame and smoke, leaving the Earth. She and Sam both looked up, watching it go until it was covered by clouds. Sam's phone started ringing and he dug it out of his pocket.

"Sam, put it on speaker," Rachel said.

Sam pushed a button and answered it.

"You wanted an answer, you got one," Sam said.

"I always get what I want, Sam," a man's voice said from the phone. "We just needed to be sure."

"Sure of _what_?" Sam asked angrily.

"That they would go without a fight," the man said.

Rachel and Sam were both confused, then Rachel saw it. The clouds had parted and Rachel could see lights streaming toward the _Xanthium_. By the time she realized they were missiles the _Xanthium _had exploded in a burst of flames and smoke.

Rachel felt like she was going to be sick. She watched in complete horror as the flaming remains of the _Xanthium_ streaked down into the water. For -what seemed like- the millionth time she broke out in tears, silent tears, that streamed down her face. Sam, beside her, was holding the phone, his mouth agape in the same shock as Rachel, tears in the corners of his eyes.

"Oh, my God," Rachel breathed, but it was hardly audible.

Sam was silent in complete shock as well. Rachel covered her mouth with her hand, not trusting herself to say anything, for fear of being sick. She didn't want to think about what had just happened, it was too horrible to think about. They both sat there, motionless. Sam winced as the watch on his wrist transformed into a centipede-looking Decepticon and slithered away. Sam tried to stomp on it, but it was already gone. He ran across the roof, Rachel flowing him. By now it was full daylight as Rachel ran after Sam, she had no clue where he was going until they reached the hangar and she saw Simmons and Dutch.

"I need your help to track a phone call, there's a man on this phone he's the head of their human operations and he has Carly hostage," Sam said to Simmons.

"What!" Rachel exclaimed. "Sam, you let them take her!"

"It's not like I had a choice, Rachel," Sam fired back.

They followed Dutch and Simmons into the hangar. Dutch took Sam's phone and sat down at a computer.

"The call was placed en route, I'm hacking into the phone's camera now. There, that's it, that's a live stream from the camera," Dutch said.

The computer screen showed a wait-level shot of someone walking.

"Someplace...Hold on, I can triangulate this," Dutch said.

Codes popped up on the computer, Dutch looked at them and started typing.

"Okay, it's Chicago cell sites, there, I've got it. Trump Tower, Chicago, lower penthouse," Dutch said.

A diagram of the building showed up on the screen, showing exactly where the phone was.

Sam took his phone back and typed something in it, looking at it.

"I'm going," he said.

"You sure?" Simmons asked.

"She's done nothing but try to help me, and I can be there in fifteen hours," Sam said.

"You're not going alone," someone said.

Rachel turned to the familiar voice, she smiled when she saw Epps.

"No you're not, Sam," Rachel agreed.

The three of them walked out of the NASA building, heading across the grass. They walked up to Epps' car which was parked a few feet away.

"I still got my NEST friends out there," Epps said. "I'll round them up, we'll find your girlfriend, we're gonna bring this guy in."

"Why are you helping me?" Sam asked.

"'Cause that asshole killed my friends, too," Epps said.

They climbed in the car, Epps and Sam up front, Rachel sat in the back. As the car pulled away, she wondered what would happen now that the Autobots weren't just gone, they were gone _forever_. Despite Optimus' claim that they'd had no plan she knew they did; that, somehow, they were going to come back when humans had realized their mistake. Now she knew that wasn't true, the Decepticons had planned this from the beginning of all this mess: down to every second. Rachel then found herself falling asleep, not that she wanted to, but she couldn't even remember the last time she'd slept more than half an hour.

When she woke, Rachel found that sleeping probably wasn't the best idea. Her dreams had been plagued not by her years past, but the horrible past few _days _and every mind-numbing event therein. She looked forward out of the windshield of Epps' car, it was either night or extremely-early morning of the next day. She had no clue where they were, the long hours of driving hadn't seemed to effect Epps, but Sam was asleep in the passenger's seat.

"You mind filling me in?" Epps asked seeing her in the mirror.

"Of course not," Rachel said launching into a short version of what had happened since Egypt.

She only got chocked up when she reached Sentinel's betrayal, she quickly apologized and continued until she'd caught up to the Autobot's exile.

"And from there you know everything from there," Rachel said.

"A lot's happened," Epps said.

"Yeah, it has," Rachel sighed.

"You okay?" Epps asked.

"Yes, I'm fine, just shocked that so many things have gone wrong," she hadn't meant to spill her feelings, it just happened.

"Don't worry, we'll beat this," Epps said.

She wanted to believe him, but the way things had been going it made it hard. The dark night soon changed into a light navy blue as dawn came near. Rachel still had no clue where they were, but they were passing houses now. Outside the houses men sat on a truck, a few men came out of the house as Epps' car drove by. The men got in the truck and the truck pulled behind Epps' car. They continued driving, passing more houses until two trucks were following and one of Epps' friends sat in the back with Rachel.

Soon they were approaching Chicago, Rachel's phone made a beeping sound. She looked down at it and a "No Signal" notice flashed across the screen. She saw Sam look at his own phone and then he placed it on the dashboard.

"We had a signal before, it's not working now," Epps said.

As they continued to drive, the road became more and more torn and messy. Rachel then saw at least a hundred people crowded and running frantically under a demolished overpass. Their clothes were ripped and torn, fear was on all of their faces as they ran away from the city. Ash riddled the ground, Rachel looked toward the sky and saw a vast amount of very Cybertronian-looking ships hovering around the city's skyscrapers.

"_This is a national emergency broadcast. Chicago has suffered a massive attack,_" the radio announcer's message sent shivers down Rachel's body.

To her this looked very apocalyptic, very scary, but she knew this would happen, just not to this extreme. She hoped the governments -the U.S' and other countries' alike- realized what _they_ had done by sending the Autobots away. The people kept yelling at the car telling them to go back, Epps kept driving. They drove further into the city and Rachel could see Chicago had been completely destroyed, buildings were on fire, a train had been forced off the tracks into the second story of a building, it was chaos. Epps pulled to a stop, Sam got out, holding the door open for Rachel, she climbed out of the car, taking in everything around her.

The rest of Epps' friends joined them and they walked toward the city. Rachel felt a tug of defeat as children ran screaming away from the city and adults ran too, ducking behind piles of demolished cars and parts of buildings. Epps walked ahead of all of them, jumping up onto a huge window that stood, surrounded by concrete, that probably had once been apart of a building, he looked at the city. The Cybertronian-looking ships hovered in the sky, making a ring around the city. Epps' friends were wearing camouflage pants and their artillery vests, they also had different assault rifle-like guns, they stopped behind Rachel. Rachel and the others quickly jumped -the ex-NEST members aiming their guns- as jets flew toward the Cybertronian ships. The ships quickly shot down both of the jets without taking any fire. The two ships that had shot them down, flew back toward the city.

"We came here to find her in the middle of all that?" Epps called to Sam.

"Are we really going out there, Epps?" one of Epps' friends asked.

"I'm not going in there," another of his friends muttered.

"No one's going in there," Epps said.

There was a long pause, and Rachel noticed Sam, he looked like he was thinking. He couldn't possibly be thinking about...

"I am, with or without you I'll find her," Sam said.

"Sam, no..." Rachel said as Sam walked away.

"You're going to get yourself killed, Sam," Epps said starting to climb down from the window. "Is that what you want! Is that what you want?"

Rachel walked after Sam, trying to catch up with him, Epps ran up beside her, also running after Sam.

"You came all the way out here to get yourself killed? Huh?" Epps said grabbing Sam's backpack, trying to stop him. "Listen to what I'm saying!"

Sam wheeled around, riping the backpack from Epps' hands.

"She's here because of me, do you understand?" Sam said turning around.

"Sam! Damn it, Sam, stop!" Rachel said. "Please, you can't go in there."

"Listen, if you go in this building, that's if she's even still alive, there's no way you're going to be able to reach her!" Epps said walking after Sam.

"What do you suggest I do?" Sam asked rhetorically.

"It's over, I'm sorry, but it's over," Epps said.

The way he said it made Rachel believe him; the Autobots were gone, and not coming back, the Decepticons had already destroyed Chicago in a day, and the military couldn't get jets to fire at the Decepticon ships. It _was_ over.

Rachel heard a noise behind Sam.

"Whoa, whoa, whoa incoming!" one of Epps' friends yelled.

Suddenly rounds were flying everywhere as a Decepticon ship flew at them. The remaining people there ran, some of them were vaporized as soon as the ship's fire hit them. Rachel's eyes widened and she rolled to the ground after Sam and Epps. They were showered with broken pieces of asphalt, once the ship had moved away they started running again, but the ship flew over them. They hit the ground again, Rachel covered her head with her arms and pressed herself as close to the ground as she could. The ship then started flying away again, and she, Epps, and Sam sat up. Then Rachel could have sworn she'd seen..._return fire_? The ship lost control and Rachel laid on her side on the ground next to Sam and Epps, trying not to get flattened by the ship as it hit the ground behind them. Rachel and Sam looked up to see the Decepticon trying to free itself from inside the ship, Epps had turned to look behind them. Rachel went rigid as she heard a gun cock behind her and a giant, bronze round hit the ground next to Sam. Rachel slowly turned her upper body to look behind her, as she followed where the round had hit upwards her eyes widened and her mouth fell open. Behind her stood Optimus Prime.

**I didn't know how to cut this chapter any other way so this is how it turned out...a lot happens so I won't try to comment on much besides I was very confused at this point in the movie my first time seeing it... so chapter 10 coming in a few days **


	10. Chapter 10

**Here you guys go, its very late at night so I won't say much just that this is a decent sized chapter so I will update in about 2 days if I remember lol**

**Chapter 10**

What Rachel saw made no sense to her.

"We will kill them all," Optimus said.

She turned back around as she heard engines roaring, the three NASCAR gun-mounted Impalas she'd seen before drove in from the opposite direction, stopping beside the fallen Decepticon ship. They transformed, the Target car taking the lead.

"Wreckers, kill him!" the Target car commanded.

The other Impalas joined him in ripping apart the Decepticon in the ship.

"This is going to hurt. A lot!" the Amp car yelled.

A smile crept over Rachel's face.

"Your leaders will now understand, Decepticons will never leave your planet alone. And we needed them to believe we had gone, for today, in the name of freedom, we take the battle to them," Optimus said pointing to the ships surrounding Chicago.

Rachel looked toward the road leading out of the city when she heard cars. She smiled even wider when she saw the Camaro, Ferrari, Corvette, Hummer and Mercedes that she knew so well. Joy welled up inside of her as she realized they had hope now, with the Autobots here they had a chance. Bumblebee transformed as he was driving, coming up to them, Mirage and the others behind him. Rachel saw that Sam's eyes were fixed on Bumblebee, and she didn't blame him, she could hardly believe what was happening. Bumblebee knelt down, becoming almost eye-level with Sam, Sam looked at him for a while before looking back at Optimus.

"We saw your ship blow up!" Sam said.

"The ship?" the Amp car asked, Rachel's attention was fixed on him. "We were never in the ship! We designed the damn thing, didn't we?!"

Rachel smiled, but she was still confused.

"We were hidden in the first booster rocket to separate, splashed down back into the Atlantic, just as planned. We ain't going nowhere," the Target car said.

"Yeah, no one's exiling us."

Rachel turned to see Brains and Wheelie on top of Epps' car.

"The Autobots are staying right here. We're gonna help you win this war," Wheelie said.

Rachel looked up at Optimus when he shifted.

"They're surrounding the city to make a fortress," Optimus said pointing to the Decepticon ships, "so that no one can see what they're up to inside. Our only chance is the element of surprise."

"I think I know where to look!" Sam called up to Optimus.

Rachel didn't know her smile had been fixed on her face until her cheeks started hurting. She looked up at Ratchet and Sideswipe.

"You didn't tell us," Rachel said.

Optimus walked over to them.

"We trusted you, but we couldn't risk the Decepticons learning our real plan," Optimus said.

"We couldn't tell you anything around Sam, either," Ratchet said.

"You knew?" Rachel asked.

"Of course we knew," Sideswipe said. "That thing couldn't hide its signals for even a second."

Rachel smiled, finally she didn't feel like she was at the beginning of a dark, winding tunnel with no end, the Autobots were alive and they would help make everything right again. However, something nagged at her and she couldn't shake the feeling somehow, it wasn't over.

"If this is a dream, one of you, please, hit me," Rachel said with a laugh.

"It's not a dream," Ratchet said.

_Oh, right, because if it were Ironhide would still be alive_, Rachel thought with a pang of sadness.

She shook the feeling quickly and focused on the positive.

"I'm so glad you guys are alive," she said.

"You better be," Sideswipe said.

Rachel mock-smiled at him and turned back to where Sam had climbed up on the fallen Decepticon ship, Bee standing next to him, Epps stood at the base of the ship, looking at it.

"So you can fly this thing right?" Sam asked Bee.

Bee made a "maybe" gesture with his hand, making a "I dunno" sound.

"What is that..." Sam said copying Bee's gesture. "What is that? What is that? So-so?"

Bee shrugged.

"So, you can so-so fly this, that feels terrible," Sam said.

Rachel smiled, giving a short laugh at Sam and Bee, she climbed up on the Decepticon ship next to Sam. She'd never been this close to one of their ships and she studied the look of it, it was definitely different than the Autobots'. Rachel hopped off the ship next to Epps, Sam came down after her. Epps handed Sam a handgun.

"We're right behind you," Epps said.

The way Sam took the gun -holding it like he was afraid of it- and the look on his face made Rachel sigh.

"Sam, if you're going to act like that, I'm coming with you. I'm not going to let you go straight into the hands of this man -who is potentially dangerous- when you hardly even know how to handle a gun. Someone, including yourself, could get hurt," Rachel said.

"It's not like I can say 'no' to you anyway," Sam said.

"Now you're learning," Rachel said smiling.

Sam helped Rachel up the ship to where Bee had gone through the hatch into the ship. Sam and Rachel both went into the hatch after Bee, sitting next to him. Rachel found it odd to be on the inside of a Decepticon ship, it felt very unsafe and dark, in fact is _was_ dark inside. Bee somehow started the ship and it took off from the ground, Bee turned it around and headed for the city. Rachel couldn't see outside, but she knew they'd turned around, apparently Bee could see just fine. Rachel usually didn't like not being able to see, but she didn't really mind now, she was with Bumblebee.

Nothing was really interesting about the ride -Rachel had been letting her mind wander- until the ship pitched sideways, turning again and then stopping. The hatch opened revealing the bright blue sky above, Sam climbed out of the ship and Rachel couldn't see him. The ship seemed to lower, descending a little before Rachel heard yelling coming through the opened hatch. Suddenly, Rachel heard gunfire and she quickly climbed through the hatch just in time to see Sam thrown over the railing of the Trump Tower by a vulture-like Decepticon. Luckily, the ship was right under him and he landed on it, Bee raising the ship to the edge of the building's balcony. Sam hung on to the gun mounted on the front of the ship.

"Carly!" he yelled. "Carly!"

Rachel saw Carly run from the building and jump onto the ship into Sam's arms. Bee started firing the ships' guns at the building. The bird-like Decepticon flew at them, attacking Sam, Carly went through the hatch beside Rachel. The ship started descending in a wild spiral, quickly and out of control. Rachel felt them crash into what she thought could have been buildings. They spiraled lower and lower until they crashed into something and the ship turned upside-down. Rachel gripped the side of the ship until her knuckles were white, she felt like she was going to be sick for a moment. The ship rolled and then came to a stop, Rachel hoped Sam was okay, he'd been on the front of the ship where it had rolled. The hatch opened and Rachel climbed out followed by Carly, she saw Sam walking toward them and the roar of many engines. The rest of the Autobots were driving toward them, led by Mirage. Sam embraced Carly and Rachel watched as Bee climbed out of the ship.

"You found me," Carly said to Sam.

"I'd follow you anywhere," Sam replied.

Rachel watched as the Autobots pulled up and stopped, Epps and his men got out of the Autobots.

"Form a perimeter! Let's go, let's go!" someone called.

They aimed their guns at the sky, looking for Decepticons, making sure that there were no threats. Rachel also looked around until Epps walked up to them. She smiled as he walked right up to Sam.

"Well, you're crazy," Epps said pulling Sam into a one-armed hug that Rachel didn't understand why guys did.

"What is that? Is that us?" Sam said pointing to something behind Epps.

Rachel turned around, looking where he was pointing to something on the ground. Rachel recognized it after a few seconds, it was a military UAV mini-drone. She then realized that NEST had no eyes in Chicago -satellite-wise- what so ever and the Decepticons were probably shooting down larger drones that NEST would have used before this one.

"This thing's a military UAV. Stone, check and see if it's still working," Epps called to one of his men.

"Yeah it's still got power," Stone said.

Epps knelt down in front of the camera on the drone, Rachel, Sam, and Carly stood behind him.

"Flight Control, do you copy?" Epps said to the drone. "Can...Can you rotate? Can you do something?"

Epps wiped the dust from the screen of the camera and shaking it.

"Can you rotate or something? Come on, work! Work!" Epps called. "Can you rotate or something?"

After a long pause the camera rotated toward them, facing Epps.

"Yes, yes! Okay, okay, okay they can see us," Epps said to Sam.

Sam knelt down eye-level to the camera.

"Chicago is ground zero, do you understand? Can you hear us? You understand?" Sam said.

Rachel watched as Carly knelt down in front of the camera and Sam got up.

"Please listen. Sentinel Prime is here and he has his pillars to his space bridge, they're on top of a building on Chicago River. It's owned by Hotchkiss Gould Investments, now, the pillar that controls everything is in the southeast cupola," Carly said.

"You have to destroy the pillar, you have to shoot down the pillar or they're gonna transport Cybertron here, do you understand? Do you understand?" Sam said.

Rachel became confused at Sam's last statement.

_How would they transport Cybertron to Earth when Cybertron was at least six times larger than Earth itself? How_ could_ they? And if so, what would be the purpose?_ Rachel thought.

Rachel quickly stopped Sam before he moved off too far.

"Sam, what do you mean they're going to transport Cybertron here?" Rachel asked.

"I don't know how, but that's what Carly said they were planning," Sam said walking up to Optimus.

"That doesn't make any sense," Rachel mumbled after Sam.

She walked after him over to Optimus.

"We need to move before the fighters spot us, wait here until we scout a route ahead. Let's roll," Optimus said walking away.

"Ratchet, cover high," Sideswipe ordered following Optimus.

Rachel helped the ex-NEST friends of Epps' check their ammo and load all their weapons. She had a few days' training with the guns NEST usually used -again, courtesy of Ironhide-, so she wouldn't be helpless in the wars against the Decepticons NEST usually faced.

"_I'm a tech annalist,Ironhide, not a soldier,_" she remembered saying and, as usual, it didn't work.

Rachel smiled at the bitter-sweet memory, she hadn't had much time to think back lately, but she didn't want to.

"Hey, you think we can use that rocket to shoot down the pillar?" Sam's sudden question made Rachel jump.

"We're eight blocks away, we got to get closer to take a shot," Epps replied.

"No, not closer..." Rachel started.

"Not closer, higher," one of the ex-NEST members said from the fire escape he was on, pointing to a building dominating the skyline. "We need a clear line of sight."

"And it's across the river, we're gonna have a hell of a time trying to sneak up," Epps said.

"We only got one shot," one of the ex-NEST members said holding up the only shot.

_Just our luck_, Rachel thought.

She really hoped Lennox and NEST were on their way after their video feed from the UAV.

"One shot's all we need," Sam replied optimistically.

They all got into the Autobots, Rachel into Mirage as per Sideswipe's command. Apparently, he took on the job of protecting her, not that she minded, she liked the semi-egotistical Autobot. As she was riding in the red Ferrari she turned to look at the line of Autobots directly behind them. They drove down a road surrounded by buildings on both sides, or at least, what remained of the buildings. Bumblebee and the Wreckers were in front of Mirage, Ratchet, Sideswipe, Que behind them and Optimus bringing up the rear. The road under the Autobots bringing up the rear suddenly sparked and broke apart in some places. Suddenly, the metal tentacle-like things -the drillers- attached to Shockwave that they'd encountered in Chernobyl shot up from the ground around Optimus. Rachel watched as his newly-acquired trailer was unhinged from him and rolled apart from him. Optimus kept driving, distancing himself from Shockwave. The Autobots pulled outside a vacant building that resembled a train terminal, Rachel climbed out of Mirage and joined Epps and the rest of the team. They ran into the building as the Autobots transformed and followed them into the building.

"That is one scary-ass Decepticon!" Epps exclaimed as he ran into the building.

Rachel stopped, looking up as Optimus as he came into the building holding his gun out.

"They got my trailer, I need that flight tech," he said loading the gun. "Shockwave can't hunt all of us at once. Wreckers, we need a diversion."

"Let's get some!" the Amp car exclaimed excitedly walking toward the entrance.

"You got that right," the Target car said following him.

Rachel watched as Epps went up to a window in the building, pointing at something, Rachel went up beside him.

"Listen, we're gonna circle around to that glass building," Epps said.

Rachel's eyes widened when she saw it.

"You mean that one, the one that is _leaning_ because half the middle of it is a giant hole?" Rachel said in disbelief. "Seems pretty safe."

Epps looked at her and shook his head.

"We'll get high enough to make the rocket shot, while you guys draw his fire," Epps said pointing to the Autobots. "Let's move!"

Epps ran with his team, but they were all quickly stopped by Que.

"Wait a second! I'm not letting you go out there without my urban combat prototypes," Que said dropping some items on the ground.

"We gotta go, Que!" Sideswipe urged.

"Come on," Que said to Sideswipe, waving him away. "They're great inventions for kicking ass."

Epps' team and Sam picked up the two different weapons off the ground.

"What are these?" asked one of Epps' friends picking up a almost diamond-shaped weapon.

"Those are boom-sticks, armed in thirty seconds," Que said and then about the other weapons. "Grapple gloves, for climbing."

They ran out of the building into gunfire between the Autobots and a few Decepticons standing on the roof of a building not far away. Rachel ran in the middle of the group next to Sam and Carly.

"Go, go! Move your ass! Move, move!" one of the ex-NEST members yelled.

Rachel saw the Wreckers driving to the left, but their group ran to the right. Optimus was across the road, firing at the Decepticons, Ratchet with him.

"Move, move! Let's go!" another ex-NEST member yelled as they ran down a vacant street.

They were soon out of the line of fire between the Transformers, but Rachel knew they weren't out of danger, not yet, not at all. They ran down the demolished street, Rachel had a few seconds to think, and be glad that she was in good physical condition because even if it wasn't in the job description, running was kind of a big thing you had to do when you were fighting against giant hostile robots. She kept good pace with the trained ex-soldiers, and was quite proud of herself until she almost fell after tripping on the up-hauled road. She kicked herself mentally even though she didn't fall.

_Focus, _she told herself, _This is not the time to lose focus. One wrong move and you're dead._

But she knew that she would never truly be focused to the task at hand, unless Sentinel was directly involved. Her focus was on revenge, even though she knew it wouldn't bring Ironhide back, she _would_ have her revenge. She was smarter than to let revenge cloud her mind, yet she couldn't control it.

They continued down the streets of Chicago for some ways until they came to the base of the glass building, a regular office building by the looks of it. Their team ran inside, rounding a corner on the first floor. The building's inside -at least the first floor- looked completely untouched, the white marble floors were so polished Rachel could see her reflection. The brown, hard-wood walls were the same way.

"Go for the stairs!" Epps called.

Rachel looked around for stairs but only saw elevators which she knew would do no good. Sam ran way ahead of them, around the next corner.

"Epps, this way!" he called back not slowing his frantic run.

The rest of their group ran after Sam following him up the stairs he'd found. They scaled the stairs until Rachel's legs were burning, she didn't know how many floors they'd gone up. They ran into one of the rooms after they'd climbed for another few minutes.

"Come on, we're high enough!" Sam said running to the windows on the other side of the large room.

"This is a mother getting up here!" one of Epps' friends said, he was shorter and thicker than the rest.

"Get your fat ass over here!" Epps yelled at him.

"I'm coming," the man panted.

The office was also untouched, the chairs and desks were set up like a normal work day had been going on, the small potted plants were even lively. The room was light and airy with stretching glass walls for windows in three of the sides, except the windows were shattered and the building was leaning a little. Epps ran to one of the windows.

"Set up the rocket!" he commanded.

He looked down at the city below from the windowpane, Rachel ran up beside him Sam and Carly behind her. Rachel's eyes widened as she saw a tan building with four pillars across the city, three of the pillars -the ones facing their team's vantage point- were sparking with blue energy, the same energy as she'd seen the portal the hundreds of Decepticons come out of in D.C.

"There," Carly said pointing at the tan building, "the building with the dome."

The men started loading the rocket launcher, passing of the shot until the thicker man Epps had yelled at had the launcher loaded. Before they could even aim at the pillars, the building shuddered and shocked exclamations came from their team.

"Whoa, the building!" some of them yelled.

"They're shooting at the building!" one of the men by the launcher yelled to Epps.

By now Rachel had moved away from the gapping, open windowpane and had taken refuge further back away from where she was in direct danger of falling to her death. She stood beside Sam and Epps, Sam was covering his ears and head. Rachel saw he was stressed, not that she remotely blamed him.

"This is not a good idea," the thicker man with the launcher mumbled from the shattered window.

"What?" Sam said in shock, as if he couldn't believe the man had said that.

"This is not a good idea, the building is unstable," the man said.

Rachel could tell Sam was on the edge of one of his freaking-out episodes when he ran over the the man.

"Listen, stop for a second. If we don't do what we came to do, it doesn't matter, we all die, right? That's your target. Come on, man!" Sam said clapping him on the back.

"I don't care if the building collapses, I'm having a heart attack anyway," the man muttered as he aimed for the building.

Suddenly the rolling chairs in the office started rolling across the floor, Rachel was trying hard to keep her balance as the building started leaning further and further.

"The building is going over!" Epps yelled.

Rachel darted to find something solid and flat to take a hold of, thank God for the rectangular pillars supporting the roof. She couldn't have moved fast enough either, as soon as she had her hands on the pillar the building slipped fast, sending most of the furniture on the floor over. She saw that the rest of the team had also found similar things to hold to. The building kept tipping over for a few seconds before it stopped, leaving Rachel leaning all her weight on one side of her body to stay upright.

"It's okay! It stopped!" Epps yelled.

"Guys, look!" Carly screamed.

"Everybody hide!" one of the soldiers yelled.

Rachel saw them, two Decepticon ships flying toward the building, she quickly ducked behind the pillar she'd been holding on to. She heard clicking and noises that she vaguely recognized, and then a loud crash as the window shattered behind her. Debris flew everywhere as a snarling Decepticon rolled into the building, Rachel held her breath as it moved around, looking for them. She heard the sound of a Cybertronian weapon cocking. She tried to breathe quietly, but seeing as they'd been running almost all day, that was pretty hard without passing out. She saw Epps pull the pin on a grenade and he nodded to the man across from him who was holding chairs. The man let go of the rolling chairs which picked up speed and zoomed past the Decepticon, distracting it. As soon as it looked away Epps threw the grenade at it, the grenade exploding.  
>"Run!" Epps shouted.<p>

Every one of them discarded their hiding spots and ran in the opposite direction of the Decepticon.

"Cover fire!" Rachel heard some of the men yell and she heard the ringing of bullets being fired.

"Shoot the glass! Jump out the window!" she heard someone yell.

Rachel grabbed her regular gun from where it was strapped to her leg, and before she had time to register -and therefore understand- what she was doing she had shattered a window and jumped out of it behind the others.

Her back slammed against the glass side of the building and she started sliding uncontrollably down it. Rachel saw the rest of their team had made it out and now they were all free sliding down the other side of the building, the one facing the sky and not the ground. They were certainly sliding to their deaths, what was to stop them? The Autobots? They were otherwise occupied and couldn't possibly know what was going on. She didn't want to think about the alternative. Her mind was blur as they picked up speed, Carly was screaming and Sam had grabbed her, pulling her close to him. All of them had managed to turn to slide on their backs which seemed better than sliding head first where you couldn't see. There was nothing to hold onto, no ledges to grab, they were falling too fast to stop now.

"We're gonna die!" one of the soldiers yelled.

Rachel quickly tried to think of something to do, this was no way to die.

"The glass!" she yelled before the air whipping against her stopped her words.

Epps had caught onto her idea, though.

"Shoot the glass!" he yelled and shot the glass panel in front of him.

Rachel and the rest of their team took their guns and shot the glass wall until it shattered and fell apart. Rachel screamed as she fell through the open glass and tumbled into the building. She'd almost slid halfway out of the other side when she realized the building was leaning too much and the speed she'd gathered sliding would carry her out the other side with the slick marble flooring. She quickly grabbed wires that had been dislodged and hung from the ceiling, reaching the leaning floor. She held tightly as the wires swung up from her force and slammed her back down into the floor.

"Holy shit," Rachel whispered.

Her whole body trembled and shook uncontrollably as she clung to the wires. Her arms were bleeding from being forced through shattered glass so many times and her heart hammered as she tried to catch her breath. She looked around and saw Epps directly in front of her, likewise clinging to wires, he was on the edge of a shattered window facing the ground a feet hundred feet below.

"Thanks," Epps said when he saw Rachel looking.

"No problem," Rachel said nonchalantly.

Rachel looked behind her and saw they were only missing one of their team, one of Epps' friends.

"Everybody okay?!" Rachel called back to them.

There were positive replied from everyone, along with everyone's labored breathing.

"What the hell was that!?" Epps' friend -the one who'd tried to shoot the rocket- yelled.

Rachel looked around, trying to bring her breathing back to normal with no success, she saw Sam had grabbed onto one of the wires and then grabbed Carly's arm.

"This evil thing's looking at me!" Epps yelled.

"What!?" Sam and Rachel called at the same time.

"It's even got an uglier Decepticon with it!" Epps said getting away from the window.

_Shockwave_, Rachel thought as she heard the humming of the driller.

"Be prepared! It's coming for us!" Rachel yelled trying to stand.

She used the different cluster of wires like ladder rungs, eventually pulling herself to the stairs leading down a level.

"We have to evac!" Epps yelled.

Soon the rest of the team was with Rachel and they went down a level.

"Sargent Epps! The stairs are blocked, we're trapped!" one of Epps' friends yelled.

The floor they were on was at less of an angle and had carpet for flooring, which helped a lot as they all scrambled to find a way out. Rachel ran with Epps and Sam to the window, her breath being knocked out of her as she saw the bottom of the building. The driller was circling through the building, going in and out of it.

"Move..." Rachel started.

"Move! We gotta move!" Sam yelled beside her.

"Why do the Decepticons always get the good shit!?" Epps yelled running away from the window after Rachel and Sam.

They started running to the middle of the room.

"We about to get eaten, people!" Epps' friend yelled.

Suddenly, everything started leaning, Rachel and everyone else were swept off their feet by gravity, they all started rolling head over heels. Everything in the office room started tumbling with them. Rachel knew what was happening, the top half of the building they were in was finally falling over because the driller had broken it. They were all going to die.

**Yes why do the Decepticons always get the best stuff? Lol. And I still do not get the whole "transport cybertron into earths atmosphere" or whatever thing...cybertron was clearly a LOT bigger than Earth. Anyway I will be uploading soon as always thanks for reading :) **


	11. Chapter 11

**Alright, here you go, my late-night update as I remembered to do this from earlier but didn't upload. Won't keep you long so enjoy**

**Chapter 11**

For a few seconds of pure hell the building kept falling, Rachel and everyone else falling through empty space in the room. Then, the building jerked and stopped falling. Rachel's upper body slammed into one of the columns that had been supporting the ceiling, they were now horizontal. She clung onto it, swinging her legs up on it as well so that her whole body was on top of it.

"God, I hate gravity," she groaned. "And Decepticons..."

She looked around seeing Sam sling Carly -who he held by her arm because she was dangling over air- down to a soldier who then slug Carly on to a fire escape. The fire escape was attached to the top of a building that had stopped the glass building's fall.

"Sam!" Carly's scream chilled Rachel.

"We gotta move!" one of the soldiers yelled.

Rachel quickly got in a sitting position on the column, swinging her legs over the side. Epps helped her as she slid off the column onto another column below her. She did this until she reached the bottom of the demolished building, one of the soldiers helped her down onto the fire escape where the rest of their group was gathered. Sam suddenly stopped looking across at where the other building was, the driller's mouth was facing them, it's metal links moving like saws. It was inching closer to them under the bridge the fallen top half of the building had created between the two buildings.

The driller turned toward the streets, bullets hitting it. Rachel turned and saw Optimus shooting at the driller, but Optimus was _flying_. She assumed he'd gotten his trailer back because the flight gear -wings and two jet like engines- was what was letting him fly to their rescue. He flew up above the building, disappearing from sight as the driller turned to face him. Rachel was glad to see the Autobot leader right now, things hadn't been going their way besides not dying of course. A few seconds passed and Optimus crashed through the building, taking off half the main driller's body. Optimus kept flying, landing on top of another building. Rachel followed the rest of the team as they got inside the building and started to quickly descend the stairs. When they reached ground level, one of the soldiers kicked open the door, putting them in a torn-up alley way. They started jogging, papers were raining down from the sky as a result of the glass office building falling. To Rachel it seemed much like she remembered 9-11, she'd lived right through that in New York when she was younger. It had to be one of the scariest days of her life, the only difference from now and then was that their little group were the only people in the streets of Chicago. Rachel looked up to where Sam was also looking, at the tan building with the pillars in it. She saw that the blue electricity-like energy was sparking over the cupola the pillar was under, a weird pulsing noise filled the air.

"It's starting! You see it?" Sam called from the front of their group.

They started picking up speed, running faster, but were stopped as gunfire rained down next to them. Rachel, Sam, and Carly kept running down the alley. Fire flared behind them from the gunfire. They rounded a corner, a school bus was stopped in the side-road covered with dirt and ash.

"We'll go this way," Sam said.

Rachel noticed they'd been separated from Epps' team during the gunfire. The three of them walked close beside the school bus, using it as cover. Rachel had a bad feeling about this, they were too close to the pillars without proper cover or even weapons at that. She heard clicking above them and immediately turned, backing away. She didn't even have time to call out to Sam before Starscream landed behind Sam and Carly.

Rachel grabbed Sam from behind, pulling him back toward her and away from the Decepticon, Sam pulled Carly with him.

"What a treat! You a me alone!" Starscream spat.

"Carly!" Sam said pulling her and Rachel to the side behind a huge concrete block that had been taken from the road.

Starscream flipped the bus over, almost hitting the three. Rachel ran toward the upside-down bus, sliding on the ground to get inside it.

"Come on, come on! Run!" Rachel heard Sam yell to Carly behind her.

Both of them soon slid down by the bus next to Rachel. Sparks were literally flying through the air from Starscream's assault.

"Okay, he's after me not you," Sam told Carly. "Run!"

Rachel grabbed Carly by the arm, pulling her in the doorway of the bus after herself. They ran down the length of the bus, Sam behind them. Rachel could hear the whirring of a saw behind them, as the bus was cut open.

"I just love it when your little insect feet try to run!" Starscream said behind them.

"Sam!" Carly yelled.

"Run!" Sam yelled back.

Rachel slid behind the concrete side of a ramp, Carly coming beside her. She made it her job to keep Carly safe for Sam, who was busy trying to get away from Starscream. Sam and Rachel knew how to handle the Decepticons, Carly didn't, which made her immediately in more danger than they were.

"Thought you were working for us, _boy_?" Starscream said.

Rachel was looking over the edge of the wall of the ramp, Starscream shoved dumpsters behind him throwing them toward Carly and Rachel. Rachel saw that Sam had taken one of Que's weapons from his backpack, the grapple glove, and put it on his hand. He aimed it at Starscream and a claw shot out from the glove, grabbing hold of Starscream's eye. Rachel wouldn't have worried for Sam, in her means he could take care of himself, but Carly's excessive cries for Sam were putting her on edge.

"My eye!" Starscream growled stepping back and yanking his head back.

Sam was pulled up from the ground, flying through the air. Sam swung by the wire attached to the claw gripping Starscream's red eye. Starscream attempted to fly, demolishing an aboveground parking garage. Starscream landed and Sam was swinging wildly from the wire screaming. Then, Rachel saw them, the NEST soldiers in their black uniforms with assault rifles. She smiled as Lennox -who was leading them- ran over to her and Carly.

"Please, you've got to save Sam!" Carly cried getting on Rachel's last nerve. "You've got save him!"

"What the hell is he doing!" Lennox yelled more to Rachel than Carly.

"Nice to see you too, Lennox," Rachel replied looking over her shoulder to see where Sam was. "Starscream attacked us out of nowhere."

"What's he got?" Lennox asked seeing the grapple glove.

"Autobot technology!" Rachel exclaimed over the commotion.

The NEST soldiers were firing at Starscream with their guns, knocking him back. Rachel couldn't see Sam anywhere, until she saw him jump from a building next to Starscream, landing on top of the Decepticon. Sam impaled Starscream in his other eye with another one of Que's inventions, Rachel knew it was the boom-stick meaning that Starscream was a goner. Stabbing him in his only good eye set Starscream off into full-out panic.

"I can't see! I can't see!" he exclaimed rubbing his hands over his eyes and shaking his head.

Lennox ran out from beside Rachel and grabbed on to Sam as he landed on the ground, the wire still attached to his hand.

"Sam!" Lennox exclaimed.

"It's on my hand! Grab the knife! Knife!" Sam yelled to Lennox.

"I'm trying!" Lennox yelled grabbing the knife from Sam's backpack.

Starscream got down on all fours, crawling and banging his head on the ground dragging Lennox and Sam behind him on the ground.

"The bomb's gonna blow! The bomb's gonna..." Sam started to say.

Lennox was trying to cut the wire with the knife, but was having trouble.

"You human scum!" Starscream yelled.

"We got twenty seconds on that bomb!" Sam yelled to Lennox.

"What bomb!?" Lennox exclaimed.

"You see that bomb?!" Sam yelled pointing to Starscream's head.

Rachel watched as Starscream tried to get up again, he was taking fire from the NEST soldiers.

"Cut it! Cut it!" Sam yelled to Lennox.

"I got it!" Lennox yelled.

Starscream got up, pulling Lennox and Sam into the air again. Rachel was nervous now, the two men she cared about were in close proximity to a bomb _and _a Decepticon. She noticed Carly had finally shut up beside her.

"Well, how long do we have!?" Lennox yelled to Sam.

"I'm gonna kick you!" Starscream said trying to kick Sam and Lennox but missing.

Starscream's jets fired up as he tried to fly away, but either the fire from NEST or the weight of Sam and Lennox made him unsuccessful. He landed on the roof of a building, Sam and Lennox hanging off the side of the building. Rachel heard beeping as Lennox finally cut the wire, making the two fall. At the same time the bomb blew up, blowing off half of Starscream's face and a hole through his chest. Rachel's head whipped around as she heard an engine roaring, she saw the yellow and black Camaro come around the corner, transforming. Bumblebee scaled the side of the building, grabbing Sam and Lennox in each hand and transforming back as he hit the ground, backing up to avoid debris from Starscream. Sam and Lennox laid on the hood of the Camaro.

"Well, he's dead," Sam said.

Lennox nodded, both men looked out of breath.

Sam, Carly, and Rachel ran with the NEST soldiers and Lennox under an overpass. They were running toward the building.

"Hey, Bee's gonna run with the rest of the Autobots and meet us on the edge of the river," Sam told Lennox.

"All right," Lennox said.

Rachel wondered if they would ever stop running, but right now it was important that they shut down the pillars before all hell broke loose. She finally appreciated how large of a city Chicago was as they ran at full speed toward one of the bridges. The Decepticons had raised the bridges, probably to prevent the Autobots from navigating the city without the Decepticons noticing. Rachel knew the Autobots' survival wasn't a secret to the Decepticons anymore. They reached the cream-colored base of the drawbridge, Rachel ran behind Lennox up the stairs to the bridge.

"We got to get across the river," Sam said.

Lennox stood beside Sam, Rachel to the side of the two of them.

"You see that? She said the pillar was in the first cupola," Sam told Lennox.

"All right," Lennox replied looking at the tan building across the river.

They ran the rest of the way up the stairs, cutting to their right to go to where the bridges were raised to the sky. There were abandoned cars on the torn up concrete of the bridges, Lennox took the lead.

"How do we get these bridges down?" Lennox asked.

His men spread around, looking for a way into the control room. Rachel ran with Lennox outside into the sunlight away from the bridge. There were trees outside the building with a staircase leading up to the bridge. Rachel looked to see if any stairs led up to the bridge control room.

"Epps!" Rachel heard Lennox call.

She turned around where Epps ran up to Lennox, both men looking surprised.

"Epps, I've been looking for your ass, how you doing?" Lennox asked.

"Retirement's whack, and even worse we can't get across the river to that building and the Autobots are upstairs, surrounded," Epps said.

Rachel's heart sank at his words, she turned around and ran full-out up the stairs next to the bridge. She saw Sam look at her before realizing something was wrong and following her, Carly in tow. Behind the raised bridge there was a demolished city square that had been reduced to ash and piles of burnt and flaming rubble. About seven Decepticons stood there, one held each of the five Autobots and the other two were standing guard. Ratchet was fighting the Decepticon holding him, Que, Bumblebee, Mirage, and Sideswipe looking on from where they had been forced the their knees by the Decepticons holding them. Rachel hid under an overturned, burnt car, Sam and Carly soon followed her in. She heard a noise behind her and turned away from the Autobots to see the drawbridge go down. Her attention was then directed at the tan building where the blue energy from the pillars was sparking up the dome of the building, lines of the energy were streaming to it from the four cupolas where the pillars were. As soon as they joined at the top a column of the blue energy shot up from the dome into the clouds above. Some energy reflected off the clouds, making it look like a lightning storm, but Rachel knew the Earth was now in high danger.

When she turned back to look at the Autobots a taller, middle-aged man with black hair was standing in the center of the square, looking at the Decepticons. She assumed it was the Dylan character that Sam had talked about earlier, the one who'd taken Carly hostage and sided with the Decepticons.

"Prisoners? You're keeping prisoners?" he asked one of the Decepticons, the one who seemed to be in charge.

"Yes," replied the silver Decepticon with a Mercedes-Benz emblem on him.

"You need to teach them about respect," Dylan said.

Rachel shifted in the car, uneasy about where this was going, she moved closer to the Autobots and Decepticons, hiding behind another car.

"This was all business, but now it's personal, do you understand me?" Dylan said.

The Decepticon chuckled darkly, "I understand. No prisoners, only trophies."

Rachel panicked, she knew what that meant, she needed to do something, _anything_ to prevent the Decepticons from killing their Autobot hostages. Her mind blurred ideas, but no plan of action came to mind. The Decepticons forced Que out from where he'd been on the ground. Que was pushed to the ground, where he scrambled backwards away from the Decepticon walking toward him.

"Wait! We surrendered! We're your prisoners!" Que said.

The Decepticon pulled him up and pushed him forward, "Move it!"

What happened next put Rachel's panic ten-fold, the Deceptions shot Que, knocking him to the ground and then shot him again, and that time he didn't get up. Rachel could see Sam and Carly were in the same shock that she was, the same fear of hers in Sam's eyes. She knew they both feared what would happen next, what _did_ happen next. The Mercedes-Benz Decepticon grabbed Bumblebee and walked him forward, forcing Bee in front of him. Behind her, Sam was rummaging through his backpack, pulling out one of the bombs Que had given him. When Rachel saw it wasn't going to work she knew it was the end. The Mercedes-Benz Decepticon forced Bumblebee around, his back to the Decepticon, the Deception then put a gun up behind Bee's head.

Tears slid down Rachel's face, leaving a defined trail down her dirty cheeks. Sam was beside her , he too was crying. She felt -_knew- _his pain all too well, the strong bond formed between an Autobot and a human over _years_ of friendship, something not very easy to come by, about to be shattered by a Decepticon with a gun. If she could do something she would have, but they were out of options, short of running out there themselves. An idea suddenly formed in her head, a stupid idea.

_It would mean getting yourself killed,_ Rachel thought to herself_, but Sam doesn't deserve what you've been through_.

She was about to do it, too, before she was kindly interrupted. One of the very large Decepticon ships' noses suddenly turned toward the ground, catching the attention of both Autobots and Decepticons. Falling debris struck the ground beside the Decepticon about to execute Bumblebee, distracting him long enough for Bee to get away. Bee turned, donning his battle mask, and started fighting the Mercedes-Benz Decepticon, shooting and kicking him. The other Autobots had also escaped their would-be executioners and were now in full-out battle with the Decepticons. As the fight drew closer to the cars behind which Rachel, Sam, and Carly hid the three got out and backed away somewhat. Rachel turned long enough to see Bumblebee stuff his gun up the Mercedes-Benz Decepticon's chest armor and shoot his head off, killing the Decepticon. She smiled for the young Autobot, happy he was unharmed and alive. She then followed Bumblebee's eyes to the now-falling Decepticon ship that had saved the Autobots as it crashed into the Chicago River. When she turned back around the silver Corvette Stingray was stopped beside her, driver-side door open. She quickly got in, seeing the yellow and black Camaro already driving off.

A battle between NEST and six Decepticons was already raging when they arrived. Rachel had seen the soldiers parachuting from a tall building down on the Decepticons, she'd seen the snipers and the high-powered guns taking out some of them; NEST was by no means at a disadvantage. She knew the arriving Autobots would still help tremendously, the soldiers would only be able to do so much before more Decepticons came. Sideswipe stopped behind Bumblebee and Mirage for a split-second before transforming, throwing Rachel, once again, out on to the street.

_Well, he at least _stopped_ this time_, she thought, getting up.

"Autobots, attack!" Sideswipe commanded, Ratchet transforming behind him.

Sam and Carly got out of Bumblebee and ran to a nearby three glass-walled bus-stop station on the edge of the street. The Autobots entered the fight, helping the NEST soldiers take out the Decepticons that fired back. Rachel refused to be helpless, she wasn't about to just sit on the sidelines and watch the battle unfold before her. If she hadn't almost been blown to shreds in Egypt she would have helped NEST with that battle too, now was her chance to make up for that. She searched for just a minute or so before finding one of NEST's assault rifles on the ground -a M16A4 with a foregrip and a scope. As was standard for all NEST members, soldiers or not, she had trained with that type of rifle before; not only had Lennox insisted she learn how to use one, Ironhide had also joined in on the "fun" of watching her practice. Lennox had been very impressed with her skill, Ironhide, as always, just rolled his eyes and walked away. The magazine in the rifle was still fully loaded, minus one bullet, leading her to believe it's previous owner had dropped it fighting a Decepticon. Rachel ran back to the now-arriving military NEST trucks driving up with more of their soldiers; she knew one magazine wouldn't see the end of this fight. Upon asking the newly arrived NEST soldiers for more ammunition she was denied.

"Do you not see what's going on out there!?" she yelled over the gunfire and explosions.

"Sorry, we need all of it here, or we won't have enough," said one of the soldiers back.

"'You won't have _enough_'!" Rachel said seeing the numerous cases of ammunition. "Rachel Hallows, I work with tech! Colonel Lennox will be very upset if he hears I went into this fight with just a few rounds. He's gonna think I was put in danger, not only by myself, you know."

"Miss Hallows, I'm sorry, I didn't recognize you!" the soldier said. "I was with tech during the Egypt and Shanghai fights, sorry..."

"That's great, now give me the damn ammunition!" she yelled.

The soldier tossed her a couple of the magazines, which she put in the pockets of her uniform.

"Thank you!" she yelled back.

Rachel ran into the fight, not knowing what to expect. She had been thrown into a couple gun battles with the Decepticons before, with the first group of Autobots, but it had been awhile. She decided it was time for her to use that "skill" Lennox had told her she'd had.

Between NEST and the Autobots, the Decepticons were easily matched. As Rachel reloaded her gun, she had a chance to see the sky that was now changing. Layers of hexagonal shapes covered the sky like it was divided into sections. She had seen that design before, in a flashback provided by one of the Autobots. Cybertron was being pulled nearer to Earth by the energy coming off the pillars, Rachel didn't like the notion but it was true, the end of Earth was coming. Rachel went back to shooting at the Decepticons, trying desperately to kill any of them. She finally saw the Wreckers in the battle before hearing the scream of engines, looking to the sky she saw Optimus flying toward them. The Autobot leader flew at the fight, landing and spinning, catching one Decepticon and throwing him to the ground. Rachel quickly got out of the way as Optimus came down the middle of the street, taking out each Decepticon with his glowing Energon blades. He then took down Shockwave single-handedly before shooting a missile up at the cupola holding the pillar. The structure crumbled, the pillar falling to the ground and the stream of blue energy into the sky stopping.

"Get down here, Sentinel," Rachel heard Optimus say.

She saw Sentinel jump off the building, slowing his fall by throwing his double-sided blade into the building and grinding it all the way to the ground. Optimus drew out an ax that glowed like his Energon blade, which he also wielded. He fought Sentinel, backing the traitorous Autobot against the tan building. Rachel ran with some of the NEST soldiers and Lennox as they ran toward where Optimus and Sentinel fought, the Autobots ran behind the soldiers. She fought with NEST, shooting at Sentinel whenever Optimus wasn't in the line of fire, and then when enough NEST soldiers started firing at Sentinel she focused on the other Decepticons. Explosions popped up everywhere sending heat surging through the crisp Chicago air at random intervals. Lennox still hadn't seen Rachel, which she was glad for because she _wanted_ to fight and Lennox might pull her out of it. She suddenly saw it; a Decepticon in front of her aiming at the Autobots behind her. Mirage jumped on him as he was firing,making him misfire. Rachel and some of the NEST soldiers were thrown back by the blast of the missile going off in front of them.

Cold was the first thing Rachel felt when coming back to her senses, a relieving cold. It soon got too cold to bear and she found herself in water. She broke the surface, looking around in an attempt to get her bearings, and saw she'd been thrown a hundred feet or so into the Chicago River. The water was the source of the cold -the _freezing _cold- but it did feel good to her after running and fighting all day. Her uniform would dry quickly, it was designed to, so she wouldn't have to endure wet clothing for too long. Rachel swam to the edge of the river, trying to find a way out of it, but the slick, steep wall prevented her from getting out. She was trying to pull herself up -a hard feat considering her arms and legs were already going numb- when a hand extended down from the sidewalk beside the river. She looked up, smiling and taking Lennox's hand, letting him pull her up out of the river.

"What were you doing?" Lennox asked.

Rachel was doubled over, dripping water, trying to catch her breath that had been stolen by the cold river.

"Going for a swim...couldn't you tell?" she said smiling between inhaling.

"Are you okay?" Lennox asked after smiling himself.

"Fine, just glad I wasn't blown to bits by the missile, being wet was a much better alternative," she said. "Thanks."

"No problem," Lennox said walking off and re-joining the fight.

_Well, maybe he _won't_ make me take cover in stead of fighting_, she thought as she watched him go.

Before Lennox could turn around and change his mind, Rachel ran back to where the missile had hit, finding her gun on the ground a few feet away. By now she saw the fight going downhill for the Autobots and NEST, the smaller Decepticon ships, like the one Bee had tried to fly, were bearing down on them firing at Optimus. The Autobot leader was taking cover behind a statue, trying to draw his gun.

"Decepticons," Sentinel said trying to spear Bumblebee with his blade.

Bumblebee transformed into his Camaro, backing up and evading the blade, then transforming again.

"Trigger the pillar!" Sentinel said as Sideswipe jumped on him.

Sentinel threw Sideswipe into the ground, "Restart that pillar!" he yelled.

Rachel had gone back firing at the Decepticon ships when Tomahawk missiles rained down on the them. The ships exploded, giving NEST and the Autobots some chance to regain the upper hand. Rachel decided to run for the pillar, to keep the Decepticons from restarting it and thereby securing the end of the world. The pillar was in her sight, a couple hundred feet away, when she was hit by something, falling to the ground.

Instinct kicked in, some_one_ had hit her not some_thing, _Rachel quickly got off the ground in one fluid movement. Standing in front of her was Dylan, the man was about her height, maybe shorter, but his stance conveyed he meant business. Her gun had been thrown out of her reach and she wasn't about to retrieve it. She threw a punch at Dylan, hitting him in the arm that he threw up to block her; he tried to return the blow, but Rachel ducked, grabbing her second handgun from around her calf. Evading a blow, she quickly shifted her weight onto one leg and used the other to sweep Dylan's legs out from under him. The dark-haired man fell to the ground flat on his back, stunned upon seeing Rachel standing over him, her gun aimed at his head. Rachel wasn't at all stunned, she _had_ been trained in hand-to-hand combat, albeit it had been some years, it wasn't something one easily forgot.

"Give me one good reason not to blow your head off right now," Rachel said angrily, glaring at him.

She saw Dylan smile menacingly before a shadow was cast over her, with a gasp she turned and fired as she was picked up from the ground. The bullet glanced harmlessly off the red metal hide of a Transformer. Rachel had no time to register this before she was thrown into a wall of a building, a tight grip around her. She flipped a switch on her handgun and aimed it at her captor as he held her against the wall many feet above the ground.

"What do you think you'll do with that?" Sentinel asked with a short laugh.

"Kill you...hopefully," Rachel replied.

"You're a smart girl, I know, or Ironhide wouldn't have liked you so much. You were his _pet_, his downfall," Sentinel said.

"Why did you kill him?! Was it because you knew he would kill you for what you did? That he was stronger than you? You think you're doing this for the benefit of your race, but if you really knew the Autobots you wouldn't have done it. They don't want this, so you turned on them, on your brothers!" Rachel raged.

"Do not lecture me, human!" Sentinel said collapsing the wall next to her.

"You aren't going to gain anything from this. The Decepticons, they are going to be the only ones who want Cybertron in the end. You did this for yourself, you're selfish. You say you did it for your planet, but that's not true; you did it because you're _evil_," Rachel seethed.

Sentinel's gun was aimed at her, its barrel glowing as most did before they were fired. Rachel closed her eyes, tears forming out of the corners. She wasn't scared of dying, she wasn't scared at all, but the words Sentinel said to her rang in her ears "_his downfall." _The tears threatened because she was wondering if she _had_ been his undoing; she started blaming herself despite the cries in her head screaming at her not to listen to a traitor. She could feel heat from the gun, knowing she was about to die.

There were screeches of tires and sounds of a car transforming, then the gun was dropped to the road below. Sentinel staggered back after taking fire, dropping Rachel onto the street. She looked up, seeing Sideswipe firing at Sentinel and keeping him away from her.

"Get outta here!" Sideswipe yelled at her, pushing Sentinel back.

Rachel got to her feet and ran, grabbing her first gun from where Dylan had knocked it from her hands earlier. Looking around, she saw that he had escaped before Sideswipe had come or the Autobot would have run over him. Running back into the battle probably wasn't the best idea, instinct went against it, she wanted to help, though, wanted to make a _difference. _When she was finally back in the thick of the fighting, things weren't looking good for NEST or the Autobots.

**Getting, sadly, closer to the end. Don't really have much to say because it is pretty late at night. Comment if you wish, I will upload again soon before school starts.**


	12. Chapter 12

**Getting close to the end, sadly, so here is chapter 12 for you all...enjoy...**

**Chapter 12**

Optimus was getting kicked around by Sentinel, only getting in a few shots here or there. Rachel saw Sam running like crazy, back through the lines of soldiers, toward the tan building. By now she had just learned to ignore his frantic episodes, he would be fine, he always was. No side seemed like it had the advantage now, both were taking heavy fire and only dealing out small hits occasionally. Rachel worried for Sideswipe she hadn't seen the Autobot since he saved her, but she knew he could handle himself. The ringing of gunfire all around her brought memories from her past to the surface of her mind; she fought to suppress them, now was not the time to take her mind off anything but firing that gun. There was an odd sound that attracted the attention of the NEST team on the ground and they all looked toward the sky. The pulsing, blue stream of light shot back into the sky connecting it to the ground below and bringing Cybertron gradually closer. Rachel ducked behind a car for cover as bullets rained on either side of her. When she looked back up from over the car the Autobots, mainly Bee and Sideswipe, were attacking Sentinel keeping him away from the pillars. A NEST member fired a rocket at Sentinel, knocking him to the ground in a burst of flames. Sentinel crawled away, transforming, with Optimus shooting at and running after him. Optimus quickly caught up with Sentinel on one of the bridges, slamming him into the railing of the bridge. Optimus beat down on Sentinel with his ax and his blade, but the traitorous Autobot hid behind his massive shield. Both of them exchanged blows but didn't cause any real damage to one another. It changed, though, very quickly when Sentinel kicked Optimus' ax out of his hand. The Autobot leader tried to recover, but Sentinel caught him in the shoulder with his blade taking off Optimus' arm. Rachel cringed, Optimus was in trouble now.

Optimus now had no weapons, and was kicked down by Sentinel. Rachel could hardly believe what she was seeing, she started moving toward the bridge still trying to cover her back. Sentinel drove his blade through the back of Optimus' other arm, dragging him across the floor of the bridge. Rachel stopped cold as Sentinel drew his blade up over his head, over Optimus, aiming to kill him. Before Rachel could feel scared for Optimus' life the sound of a Cybertronian gun perforated the silence and Sentinel fell away from Optimus. The gun was fired two more times before Rachel realized Megatron was the gun's wielder. She couldn't exactly tell herself she knew what was happening. Megatron threw Sentinel away from Optimus and into the side of the bridge.

"This is my planet!" Megatron yelled kicking and punching Sentinel.

_So_, Rachel thought_, that's what this is about._

Behind her she heard Lennox and Epps yelling, turning, she found some NEST members and the Autobots running to where Sam had disappeared earlier. They had only been gone a minute or so before blue tractor beams, matching the stream from the pillar, drew the remaining Decepticon ships up into the sky. The blue stream from the pillar stopped and also went up into the sky. Rachel looked up in amazement as a fiery explosion replaced the hexagons covering the sky. When the explosion cleared some minutes later, the hexagons were gone, Cybertron was gone.

Megatron held up Sentinel -who was on his knees- before throwing the near-defeated traitor back onto the floor of the bridge. Rachel was glad to see that Sentinel had been betrayed by someone he had even somewhat trusted it would be good for him to know the feeling. She caught some of Megatron's words before slowly moving closer to hear what was going on, Optimus had stood up again and Megatron was moving closer to the Autobot.

"All I want is to be back in charge," Megatron said. "Besides, who would you be without me, Prime?"

Rachel was close enough to hear Optimus' reply.

"Time to find out," he said, his battle mask covering his mouth.

Optimus picked up his ax from where it had fallen and in one step covered the distance between him and Megatron. He threw the glowing ax into Megatron, knocking the Decepticon down to the bridge floor before catching him between the eyes with the ax. Megatron's head was pulled clean off in a shower of sparks and metal pieces. Optimus dropped the ax with Megatron's head still embedded on it and turned to face Sentinel who was crawling to the side of the bridge.

"Optimus, all I ever wanted was the survival of our race," Sentinel said.

Sentinel was facing down looking at the ground and didn't see Optimus, but Rachel did, the Autobot leader had picked up one of the fallen guns off the ground. She stood there with her arms crossed, waiting to see what Optimus would do.

"You must see why I had to betray you," Sentinel continued.

"You didn't betray me," Optimus said cocking the gun. "You betrayed yourself."

"No, Optimus!" Sentinel exclaimed.

Optimus fired the gun, shooting Sentinel in the back and then once again, killing him.

Optimus stood up straight, dropping the gun and looking out over the river. Rachel felt like a huge boulder had been lifted off of her and she could finally breathe again. She turned to see Lennox, Epps, some NEST soldiers and Bumblebee approaching from one end of the bridge. They were followed a few feet behind by the rest of the Autobots being led by Sideswipe. Bumblebee stopped on the bridge and Sam got out of the yellow and black Camaro. Looking down at herself Rachel saw how dirty her uniform was, not to mention the various rips along the fabric it showed what they all had been through. She looked back at Optimus, seeing him nod to Sam and then she followed Sam's gaze to the other side of the bridge; more NEST soldiers were walking toward them. Bumblebee transformed as Sam started walking toward Lennox.

"Sam," Lennox said looking back to the NEST soldiers on the other side.

Rachel already saw, Carly was behind a line of the soldiers she started running toward Sam and Sam started running toward her. Rachel walked next to Lennox the two looked at each other with a smile; a smile that was universal for the unbelieving "we won, we actually won." When the world itself seemed as if it were crashing down around, there was always hope and Rachel had learned that through this mess. Her world had been torn apart, but the Autobots would always be there, they always had been. She stopped beside Bumblebee who was standing behind Sam and Carly, the two split when they saw Bee behind them. Bee searched through his armor for something metal pieces were falling on the ground.

"Oh, rings," Carly observed.

Bumblebee started humming "Here Comes the Bride" pointing at Sam and standing back up straight. Rachel nearly choked from trying to hold in her laughter, the young Autobot never ceased to amaze with his antics. Carly and Sam both picked up one of the rings from the ground, Carly admiring hers.

"I love this car," she said.

"Bee, you got to slow it down. You got to slow it way down, okay?" Sam said looking up at him.

Bee shrugged, "I'm just trying to help out," he said.

Rachel laughed, smiling genuinely for the first time since she could remember.

NEST was completely hectic when they returned to base later that night. They had so much to do to bring everything back to normal after Chicago. Then again, nothing would ever go back to normal at least not for Rachel. She was happy that they won, happy that the Decepticons were gone, but a dark cloud still hung in the back of her mind and she knew it would never go away. She worked on her computer, trying to locate any remaining Decepticons if there were any. Sam and Carly had gone back home, Bumblebee with them. It was satisfying that Mearing no longer doubted Lennox's judgment and had stopped ordering around the NEST members. Rachel was surprised she hadn't wanted to sass the director in over a week. She guessed Chicago had shown everyone what the Autobots meant to the protection of Earth, she hoped the leaders around the world realized their mistake of even _thinking _to send the Autobots away. Lennox had given her orders to report any trace that the Decepticons were still lingering so far she hadn't found anything that suggested they'd stayed. Her physical wounds had healed quickly, but her emotional ones continued, every time she saw the Autobots she was reminded of what she had lost. She felt selfish NEST had lost much too, but the feeling she got trying to work with the Autobots tore a hole through her. She was having doubts about telling herself the feeling would pass.

Rachel was getting ready to leave for her apartment two weeks after Chicago when Lennox found her. She could tell by the look on his face that the talk they were about to have wasn't going to be pleasant.

"Rachel," Lennox said. "I need to talk to you."

Rachel turned, facing him, "Yes?"

"We've all been through a hard time, especially you," Lennox said.

"I know, Lennox, don't make this all about me, it hasn't been easy on any of us," Rachel said.

"I want you to take some time off from NEST, not permanently, just long enough for you to get past this. For all of us to get past this," Lennox said cautiously.

"Okay, I was going to approach the same thing with you. I won't deny I need some time away, every time I lay eyes on the Autobots..." she couldn't finish her sentence. "I wish there were more people in the world as good as you."

"If there were I wouldn't be so special, would I?" Lennox said with a smile.

Rachel smiled, "I'll go, but you better save a job for me so I can come back," she said winking.

Lennox gave a short laugh, "I wouldn't dare try to keep you from coming back."

Rachel went to shake hands with Lennox, but then something odd happened, the soldier pulled her into a hug. She quickly returned it, not feeling at all awkward, Lennox had become like her big brother and now he was just trying to comfort her.

"Good bye, Rachel, I hope to see you again," Lennox said.

"Bye, Lennox," Rachel said. "I _will_ see you again."

The apartment's door swung inward casting the streetlights in the living room before the lights in the apartment flipped on. Rachel stepped through the door, putting her stuff on the table before walking to the back of the apartment to take a shower. She was relieved to finally be clean and put non-ripped clothing on. She worked on various things before going to bed for a long-delayed sleep, hopefully it would offer her an escape. Sleep was not refuge, that was the night the nightmares started.

**Do not worry my dear fans this is not the end, still have two chapters to go! This might be my last update for a while as school is starting tomorrow and I don't know when I'll have a chance. Lucky for you guys tho since this fanfic is already typed and finished. :) (opposed to the others who will have to wait until I can write my unfinished fanfics, _type_ them, and then upload) And I am glad Optimus broke character for a little so he could kill Sentinel * a few points deserved for the writers * Anywho, hope you enjoyed and I hope I will be able to update soon ;) thanks for reading**


	13. Epilogue Part 1

**A/N: Meant to upload this last night but forgot...obviously XD didn't have much time since school started... anyway only one chapter left :( alright, enjoy :)**

**Chapter 13- Epilogue Part One**

"Ray, I'm going to work! I'll be back at two!" he called from the door of the apartment.

Every time he spoke Rachel fell for him all over again, his English accent brought out the kindness of his words. The door pulled shut as he headed off for the NEST base. It had been a few months since Chicago, Rachel had finally opened up to someone in her life and she believed Daniel was the best person she could have. They had moved into an apartment together in the city, a few streets away from the NEST base in D.C, but Rachel hadn't stepped into the base since. She checked the time, 7:30am, she still had time to go for a run before work. Some part of her still clung to her habits from being at NEST because she never ran the same path through the city. She didn't run because she was fitness crazy, she ran to _forget, _to forget her troubles and the words that still echoed in her head. The eight miles of exercise in a little under eighteen minutes was just an added bonus. By eight she had returned home, showered and was heading for work at a computer company she now worked for. The office job didn't suit her well, but the paid leave from NEST didn't cover the costs of living. The job was good enough though, after all, computing was what she did best.

The sun had long since gone below the horizon and with the coming of darkness the capital transformed into a city of lights. Rachel sat up in the second story bedroom she and Daniel shared, worrying for her boyfriend who had yet to show himself. If there was one thing he never was it was late. She looked at the window of the bedroom down at the dimly-lit street below and saw a large, black truck parked in front of her apartment. The sight sent her mind reeling, she looked away rubbing her eyes and when she looked back it was gone. That was not just any truck, she knew that truck; the style, the size, it was all there, but it couldn't be, it _wasn't_.

"You're just worried for Daniel," she murmured her herself.

The door to the apartment opened downstairs.

"Danny?" Rachel called down.

"It's me, don't worry," came Daniel's voice. "They kept me late, I tried to call, but you know how it is."

Rachel came down the stairs cautiously, her pajama pants a little too long for her comfort on the wood. She put up Daniel's things while he went up stairs to shower she was considering whether to tell him what she saw. She decided against it, fearing he would think she was crazy and not to mention hallucinating. In minuted Daniel came back down dressed in loose pants and a shirt and picked Rachel off the ground, carrying her up to the bedroom. She was laughing at him when he threw her down on the bed before going around to lay beside her. She moved closer to him, placing her head on his chest and closing her eyes.

"Why did you decide to date a NEST member if it brings back such horrible things?" he asked her.

"I didn't decide, I fell for you, NEST or not. Besides who would understand, and for that matter _believe_, what I'd been through better?"

"No one?" he guessed.

"Exactly, and it's just a bonus that you're a soldier," she said turning over and kissing him.

"Even if you did deny me ammunition during a war," she added tauntingly.

"And that was the very moment I fell for you," Daniel replied.

"When I cussed you out?" Rachel asked.

"When I saw how strong-willed you were, if lives were at stake you wouldn't take no for an answer if it meant helping," he said.

"You got all of that from a Chicago street-battle with Decepticons?" Rachel asked with a smile.

"You said it yourself, I 'fascinate' you sometimes," he said

Rachel laughed, closing her eyes, hoping to get some sleep.

"_You were his downfall_," the words echoed in her head. The nightmare raged through her head. _Explosions._ Gunfire as NEST tried to retaliate, but only more explosions followed. Lennox had pushed her to the ground as her whole world came crashing down in a million pieces. As always she woke screaming at her past terrors, tears streaming down her face. Daniel's arm wrapped around her and he pulled her closer to him.

"Rachel..." he said softly. "It was Ironhide again wasn't it?"

Rachel nodded not trusting herself to speak. There was silence in the dark room, both of them remained silent except for Rachel's frightened breathing.

"It was my fault, Daniel," she finally said in a whisper.

"No, it was not. I know why you blame yourself for everything is because of the first Autobots, but I _promise _you it was not your fault," Daniel said.

Rachel's mind raced back to that day to something she hadn't noticed before.

"It was..." she breathed.

"Rachel," Daniel warned.

"No, it _was_, he was looking for me. I had been mixed between tons of NEST soldiers with Decepticons running loose and we wanted to find me, to make sure I was safe. Oh, God, I _was_ his downfall," Rachel groaned.

"You should have never listened to Sentinel, he was a traitor and horrible. He was trying to break you down and he did, he targeted your weakness. Now, please, stop blaming yourself," Daniel said hugging her tightly. "You have to move past the horrible things that have happened in your life, don't forget them, but learn to live with them. Focus on the good things."

Rachel tried to go to sleep again, she finally did after what seemed like hours of staring at the dark ceiling. The next day while Daniel was getting ready to go back to NEST Rachel was busy making a decision.

"I'm going back to NEST," she told him suddenly.

"What?"

"I need to visit Lennox and the Autobots, you told me I need to move past my horrors, this is the only way," Rachel said.

"I have to go, but, please, think this over before you decide," Daniel said kissing her before leaving.

Later that day, she decided without a doubt, she would go to NEST.

It had been four months since Rachel had stepped foot in NEST's base. Lennox greeted her, though it wasn't really a greeting.

"Rachel! What are you doing here, I thought I told you that you need time off..." Lennox said.

"I'm just visiting, Lennox, I really couldn't stay away you know me," Rachel said smiling.

Lennox smiled at her. It felt good to be back at NEST, even for just a short time, however, -like Daniel had warned- it also brought back memories. The hole she had tried to cover up was torn open as the Autobots drove up. The Autobots started to transform, standing in a semi-circle around Rachel and Lennox. The transformations never ceased to amaze Rachel, it showed her what she had been missing in the past months.

"Ratchet, Bee, Mirage, Sideswipe, Wreckers, Optimus," Rachel said nodding to each one.

"How are you, Rachel?" Ratchet asked.

Rachel knew he probably sensed her hidden depression, so she knew to answer honestly.

"I guess I'm alright, how are you guys?" she asked with a smile.

They all looked at each other and then to Lennox, all except Optimus who kept his eyes on Rachel. She looked up at the Autobots.

"Is there something you're not...you're not telling me, guys?" Rachel asked.

They all looked at one another again. There was a heavy footstep behind Rachel and she flinched, looking at all of the Autobots' level expressions most of all Optimus. She slowly turned to see what was behind her, hoping to God it wasn't something horrible. All she saw was a giant metal leg, her eyes widened as she looked up. Rachel gasped as she was snatched up from the ground.

**A/N: :) hahaha how evil of me. So yes, I finally gave Rachel a boyfriend due to many requests and cause it did sort of fit. Told you she'd go back to NEST XP I'm pretty sure if I lived in the same _state_ as the base you wouldnt be able to keep me away lol anyway last chapter will be uploaded sometime this weekend...yaaay 3 day weekend(which I will b using for history hw -.-) hope you enjoyed**


	14. Epilogue Part 2

**A/N: Well here it is people, my last chapt for this series :( it is both sad and happy at the same time. Anyway here you are and enjoy**

**Chapter 14- Epilogue Part Two**

Rachel couldn't believe what she was seeing. This _had_ to be a dream, it had to be, yet, she didn't want it to be.

"I..." her words stuck in her throat.

She looked down -a little unwillingly- at Lennox and across to the Autobots.

"I could just punch all of you right now, even _you_," she jeered at Lennox.

Lennox was just smiling at her, as were the Autobots, all_ nine_ of them.

"Yes, because punching us ended _so_ well last time," he said.

"Shut up, Ironhide, I'm not even talking to you right now," Rachel said to the Autobot holding her.

She crossed her arms, feigning anger, but inside her emotions were a jumbled mess.

"She pissed, don't say anything," Sideswipe warned.

"Shut up, Sideswipe, don't help him," Rachel snapped.

Sideswipe held his hands up in surrender. Rachel was glad to see Ironhide was alive, more than glad, but she was also beyond pissed.

"I can't believe you didn't tell me!" she exclaimed to all of them.

She turned to Ironhide, "And put me down, _now_."

For once the Autobot complied and placed her back on the ground. Rachel's mind was spinning, hopelessly spinning out of control still trying to process what was going on.

"Rachel, we wanted to, but it was for your own safety," Lennox said. "Both of you."

"For my own safety? I'm not mad at you, but I almost _let_ Sentinel kill me because I no longer cared for my safety. If it hadn't been for Sideswipe he would have killed me," Rachel said.

"Hey, you pissed off the Decepticons, the least I could do was save your life," Sideswipe said.

Rachel gave him a disbelieving smile, shaking her head, and then turned to look up at Ironhide.

"And, _you,_" she said fighting back her emotions. "You _taunted _me!"

Confused replies mixed from all the Autobots and Lennox.

"You made me think you were alive when I _knew_ you weren't!" Rachel said.

"I didn't..."

"You drove in front of my apartment! And I saw you and I was confused, but by the time I looked back you were gone; I thought I was going insane."

Silence dominated, Ironhide recoiled when Optimus spoke up.

"Ironhide..."

"Sorry, Optimus, I had to see if she was safe," Ironhide countered.

"You weren't supposed to go near her."

Rachel still took joy in seeing Ironhide squirm under Optimus' glance.

In seconds, it truly hit her; Ironhide was alive, _alive. _The one thing that had been her anchor through everything, from her parents' deaths to her own complications with life in Egypt, was Ironhide, and he had never truly been lost to her like she'd thought. He was here with her, still being his annoying, overly-protective self. She knew that -even though she acted differently- she had always welcomed his protection, the security that he gave her when upon many occasions all hell had seemed to break loose. The emptiness that she had felt since the day of Sentinel's betrayal was so suddenly filled that she couldn't help but break into tears of joy. Obviously this didn't go unnoticed by the reason for the tears.

"I'm away for what? A few months? And you just go all soft like that?" Ironhide joked.

Rachel couldn't even roll her eyes at him right then, she moved closer to him looking up at him with a smile. Ironhide saw she wasn't in a joking mood and bent down to pick her up once more. She let him without protest, actually leaning into his touch. He lifted her to his eye level and she stared into his blue eyes before throwing her arms around as much of his neck as she could. The hug was awkward only for her arms, which didn't reach completely around him, and she put her head against the cool metal next to her arms. She heard him sigh, a good sigh, releasing him with a smile. He put her back on the ground and she looked around at all the Autobots.

"I assume I have Ratchet to thank for _this_," Rachel said looking at the medical officer, gesturing to Ironhide.

Lennox laughed, "Now, you know he isn't going to take credit for anything."

Ratchet looked at the humans.

"I was considering not saving him, he let his guard down, but I figured if I at least didn't _try_ Optimus would have my head," Ratchet, for once, joked. "Now, I'm glad he pulled through. Rachel, I was worried about you, really worried."

"Thanks," she replied. "For everything."

But, his seriousness made Rachel realize just how lost she really had been. She didn't want to think what would have happened if Daniel hadn't come along. Speaking of her knight in shining armor, Daniel had just walked up to Lennox.

"Daniel?" Rachel asked.

"Yes?"

"You knew about this, didn't you?" she asked.

"About what?" Daniel turned to see Ironhide standing a few feet away. "Oh, Rachel!"

He walked toward her, throwing his arms around her and lifting her off the ground. They kissed before he set her back on the ground. Rachel laughed happily, but then stopped abruptly as she realized what she'd just done in front of-

"Ironhide! Put him down!" she yelled at the Autobot holding Daniel off the ground by the back of his shirt.

"So _this_ is what you get yourself into when I'm not around?" Ironhide said with one of his cannons aimed at Daniel.

"Yes, without you around to protect me from nothing every five seconds I could actually had a _life_," Rachel teased. "Now, please, don't blow my boyfriend to oblivion."

"Yes, please, I'm sorry if I did anything wrong. I- I-" Daniel said nervously.

"Don't try to explain your love for me to him, he won't understand," Rachel said.

Ironhide put Daniel back on the ground, no doubt getting bored trying to intimidate him.

"Excuse me?" he said aiming his cannon at her.

"Oh, please," Rachel said finally rolling her eyes, "we've been through this, you're not going to shoot me."

"You're also no fun anymore," Ironhide said putting away the gun.

Rachel laughed looking at Lennox who also had a smile on his face as he helped Daniel off the floor. She looked around again at the Autobots, her eyes falling on Optimus. He had both arms again and if there were any signs of his fight with Sentinel left they weren't visible. He gave her a small nod making her break into a big grin. Sideswipe was also smiling at her, she walked over to the silver Autobot.

"I'm guessing Ironhide told you to be my new protector while he wasn't able to?" she asked Sideswipe.

"Yeah, he told me to watch you, that you were prone to getting in trouble," he said.

Rachel rolled her eyes, "He's one to talk," she muttered.

Things seemed right again and that she was glad for. The Decepticons could wait now, she had protection from them again; the protection she wanted and longed for. She walked back up to Lennox.

"Looks like my leave of absence is going to be shorter than you thought it would be," she said smiling.

Lennox smiled at her, "I'm glad that you want to come back."

"The only reason I left isn't really a reason anymore, Lennox."

"I'm happy for you, you didn't deserve what happened, I'm sorry I had to keep it from you for so long," he replied.

"Exactly how long _did_ you keep it from me?" Rachel asked, suddenly curious.

"Since a little before Chicago," Lennox said.

"That long, huh, how'd you keep Ironhide from getting near me until recent?"

"It wasn't easy," Lennox said with a laugh.

That night Rachel and Daniel returned to their apartment, Rachel having her job back at NEST. She was glad, that office was boring her to death, at least the office at NEST was far more interesting even when there weren't any Decepticons running around. It wasn't hard to spot the black Topkick not too far away from the apartment. Ironhide had insisted he go with the two, and Rachel no longer complained. Everything that had happened had shown her how much she missed having him around, she never wanted to have that feeling again. Ever. She'd been falling into a dark hole with no way out, but while Daniel had pulled her up, only seeing Ironhide again put her back on the surface. Rachel ran her hand through an already-asleep Daniel's dirty-blond hair, trying to sleep herself. Nightmares still haunted her, though, she knew things couldn't have been better and peaceful sleep still eluded her. Infuriated, she quietly slipped from the bed trying not to wake Daniel, going over to the window. She saw the Topkick parked across the street and quickly headed downstairs. Rachel crossed the road carefully, hearing the locks on the Topkick's doors pop open as she approached. She climbed inside the passenger's side of the truck, getting in the backseat. It was hard to ignore the click of the locks locking again as she laid down on the cool leather seats. Closing her eyes, a warm feeling rushed through her body, still hardly believing what she was doing, who she was with. Finally, she slipped quickly into a peaceful sleep, quicker than she ever had since Chicago. It was the first night since then she had not had nightmares. Rachel no longer cared for her past, no matter how horrifying, for once she didn't blame herself anymore because her future was iridescent.

**The End**

**I want to thank all of my readers who stuck with this story from the beginning. I also must thank Dreamworks and Michael Bay for making such amazing movies. And also to my friends who supported me and in some cases helped me with this fanfic. Sorry if im forgetting anyone else XD. This was prob my favorite fanfic to write, and in my opinion the best ive written, I'm having mixed feelings about finishing it because I've spent many more hours than I can count on this series. So if you're still reading this I applaud you :) So, this is by far not the last fanfic I will write check for updates on the countless others I am writing. Thanks**

**~SHSK**


	15. Update 6-3-15

**AUTHOR'S UPDATE ALERT:**

**Updates concerning this fanfiction have been posted under the "Updates Section" of my profile. Please feel free to check it out if you were wondering when I was going to upload new chapters. This update also lists a few new fanfictions I am working on/going to start, so some of those may interest you as well.**

** :)**

**Thanks again for all of your support of this fanfiction, it really means a lot to me.**

**-SHSK**


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